irf..  AuRIC,  DEPT. 


1 


RURAL  IMPROVEMENT 


BY 


B.    G.   NORTHROP, 

SECRETARY  OF  CONNECTICUT  BOARD  OP  EDUCATION. 


NEW   HAVEN: 
TUTTLE,    MOREHOUSE    &    TAYLOR. 

1880. 


EC"  j 


RURAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


BY 


B.   G.   NORTHROP, 

// 

SECRETARY  OF  CONNECTICUT  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION. 


NEW   HAVEN: 

TUTTLE,    MOREHOUSE    &    TAYLOR. 
1880. 


Public  interest  in  home  and  rural  adornment  is  rapidly  increasing.  A  little 
foresight  will  show  that  no  rural  community  can  afford  to  continue  without  some 
organized  efforts  for  this  purpose,  such  as  have  done  great  good  in  'promoting 
public  health,  cultivating  public  spirit,  quickening  social  and  intellectual  life,  build- 
ing up  and  beautifying  towns,  and  thus  enhancing  the  value  of  real  estate.  I  shall 
be  happy  to  cooperate  with  public-spirited  citizens  who  are  moving  in  this  matter, 
and  will  lecture  on  this  subject,  without  charge  either  for  services  or  expenses,  hi 
any  town  in  Connecticut.  In  this  reprint  from  an  official  Report,  a  few  local  allu- 
sions are  retained  to  show  the  original  aim  of  the  writer  and  the  application  of 
kindred  plans  and  principles  to  other  fields. 


ltd  aim 


CONTENTS 


OBJECTS  or  RURAL  IMPROVEMENT  ASSOCIATIONS: — 

1.  To  cultivate  public  spirit  and  town  pride,        .  .3 

2.  To  quicken  the  intellectual  life  of  the  people,       ...  7 

3.  Promote  good  fellowship,         .  .8 

4.  Secure  better  hygienic  conditions,              ...  9 

5.  Improve  road-sides,  roads,  side-walks,  and  light  streets,        .  .10 

6.  Improve  public  grounds,    .            .            .            .            .            .  11 

7.  Educational  bearings,  .            .            .            .            .            .  .14 

8.  Improye;the  home^'aid[ttcnie-life  of  the  people,  .            .  17 

9.  Tr,ee-.planting,    .    .        •             ...         •            >            •            •  -21 

10.  E'aunmakf  bearings; :'           ......  29 

11.  Recuperation  of  sterile  lands,  .            .             .            .            .  .30 

12.  Improve  the  surroundings  of  railway  stations,      ...  43 

13.  Minor  aims,       .             .            .             .             .             .             .  .44 

14.  Betterment  of  factory  surroundings,          ....  45 

15.  The  Two  Model  Factories,        .            .             .             .            .  .46 

16.  Plan  or  "Constitution"  of  a  Rural  Improvement  Association,    .  51 


RURAL  IMPROVEMENT  ASSOCIATIONS. 

When,  over  ten  years  ago,  an  effort  was  begun  to  improve 
and  build  up  our  country  towns,*  it  encountered,  as  I  then 
predicted,  some  misapprehension  and  ridicule.  During  this 
period  of  quiet  work,  my  faith  in  the  final  result  has  never 
faltered.  But  sooner  than  I  expected,  this  Rural  Improvement 
movement  has  assumed  such  large  proportions  as  to  silence 
cavil,  and  command  the  respect  and  cooperation  of  the  wisest 
and  best  men  of  our  State.  There  are  now  over  fifty  of  these 
associations  in  Connecticut  which  speak  for  themselves.  Their 
objects  are  manifold,  of  which  the  following  are  the  more 
important : 

1.  To  cultivate  public  spirit  and  foster  town  pride,  is 
an  object  which  should  enlist  the  sympathies  of  all  our 
citizens.  Our  youth  should  be  trained  in  their  homes 
and  schools  to  be  jealous  of  the  good  name  of  their  town 
and  State.  Hence  the  history  of  our  towns  and  our  State 
should  be  generally  taught  in  order  to  develop  a  just  town 
and  State  pride.  We  are  prone  to  underrate  the  great  value 
of  this  feeling.  The  love  of  home  and  the  love  of  one's 
town  and  State  are  akin.  This  sentiment  formed  in  early  life 
should  grow  with  our  years  and  attainments.  The  want  of  it 
indicates  a  serious  defect  of  character.  I  believe  with  Dr. 
Bushnell  that  u  the  man  who  does  not  wish  to  love  and  honor 
the  town  and  State  in  which  he  and  his  children  were  born  has 
no  heart  in  his  bosom.  We  are  too  little  aware  of  our  noble 
history  as  a  State,  a  history  of  such  transcendent  beauty,  ' 
freshened  by  so  many  heroic  incidents,  having  so  great  a 
wealth  of  character  and  achievement.  This  early  history  of 
Connecticut  is  really  the  most  beautiful  that  was  ever  permit- 
ted to  any  people  in  the  world."  This  cannot  justly  be  called 
a  partial  but  unfounded  laudation  of  one's  State.  The  Histo- 

*  "  How  to  beautify  and  build  up  our  country  towns"  was  the  title  of  an  article 
In  my  Report  for  1869. 

274435 


rian,  Bancroft,  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts,  biased  by  no  Con- 
necticut predilections  says,  in  language  as  striking  as  that  of 
Dr.  Bushnell,  "There  is  no  State  in  the  Union,  and  I  know  not 
any  in  the  world,  in  whose  early  history,  if  I  were  a  citizen,  I 
could  find  more  of  which  to  be  proud  and  less  that  I  should 
wish  to  blot." 

The  sentiment  that  honors  and  cherishes  one's  birth-place 
is  noble  and  ennobling.  I  am  aware  that  a  popular  prejudice 
associates  weakness  and  effeminacy  with  such  taste  and  refine- 
ment. But  this  sentiment  has  ever  characterized  the  greatest 
and  best  of  men  and  is  a  prime  element  of  true  manhood. 
The  cold  and  selfish  soul  is  sterile  in  heroic  virtues.  There  is 
an  American  railway  king,  now  a  millionaire,  who  seldom 
visits  his  native  town,  takes  no  interest  in  it,  does  nothing  for 
it,  and  leaves  even  the  old  homestead  and  grounds,  though  still 
owned  by  him,  neglected  and  forlorn.  This  fact  alone  natu- 
rally suggests  a  selfish,  soulless  character.  Indeed  such  exam- 
ples are  too  common.  On  the  other  hand,  the  greatest  grandeur 
of  intellect  accords  with  fervor  of  filial  feeling,  with  fondest 
home  attachments  and  with  refinement  and  delicacy  of  taste. 
It  is  perfectly  in  keeping  with  the  intellectual  greatness  of 
Daniel  Webster  to  find  him  fondly  cherishing  and  beautifying 
the  old  homestead,  enriching  and  improving  the  paternal  acres 
and  eloquently  discoursing  on  the  sacred  associations  of  home, 
the  transcendent  sweets  of  domestic  life,  the  happiness  of  kin- 
dred, and  parents  and  children.  Washington  was  as  delicate, 
courteous  and  affectionate  in  his  domestic  relations  and  attach- 
ments as  he  was  wise  in  council  and  courageous  in  war.  A 
beautiful  trait  in  Bryant's  character  was  evinced  by  his  devo- 
tion to  the  old  homestead  and  the  little  secluded  town  of 
Cummington  among  the  Hampshire  hills,  hallowed  to  him  by 
the  memories  of  father  and  mother,  and  the  sacred  associations 
of  childhood.  To  that  little  town  which  he  did  so  much 
to  adorn  and  enrich  and  educate,  he  ever  deemed  it  a  privi- 
lege to  make  an  annual  visit — a  summer  visit  with  his  house- 
hold, often  prolonged  for  weeks  and  months.  That  the  early 
associations  might  remain,  raising  the  old  house,  he  built 
beneath  and  around  it  a  stately  mansion,  so  that  the  paternal 
rooms  remained  intact. 


Ex-Governor  Hubbard  well  says,  "this  work  of  Village  Im- 
provement* will  not  fail,  I  trust,  to  awaken  public  attention 
and  provoke  imitation  throughout  our  State,  and  excite  and 
even  shame  our  own  people  into  a  larger  public  spirit  and 
better  efforts  to  redeem  from  negligence  our  rural  homes  and 
villages.  Nearly  all  our  towns  are  full  of  objects  of  natural 
beauty  easy  of  development,  and  very  many  of  them  rich  in 
legendary  and  historical  associations.  What  is  greatly  wanted 
is  something  more  of  rural  art  and  adornment.  Something 
which  shall  beautify  our  country  villages,  educate  public  taste, 
make  the  homes  of  the  fathers  dearer  to  their  sons  and  the  local 
associations  of  childhood  dearer  to  old  age,  and  thus  turn  back, 
in  part  at  least,  the  tide  of  migration  from  the  rural  towns,  and 
make  the  city  seek  the  country  life  and  make  it  what  it  used 
to  be  in  our  own  State,  and  what  it  still  is  in  the  oldest  and 
most  cultivated  nations  of  the  world." 

In  our  declining  towns  especially,  local  pride  and  public 
spirit  should  be  fostered.  Discouragement,  if  not  self-dis- 
paragement, has  been  their  danger  and  a  source  of  increasing 
weakness.  Instead  of  the  despair  that  says  u  it  is  of  no  use, 
the  fates  are  against  us,  we  are  doomed  to  decline  more  and 
more,"  true  courage  and  patriotism  would  face  the  facts, 
inquire  into  their  causes,  and,  if  possible,  find  a  remedy.  The 
lack  of  public  spirit  has  contributed  to  the  decline  of  many 
towns.  The  evidence  of  this  is  sometimes  seen  in  dilapidated 
school-houses,  poor  roads,  absence  of  sidewalks,  and  neglected 
common,  cemetery  or  church.  Remembering  that  what  any 
people  can  be  depends  largely  on  what  they  have  been,  the  his- 
tory of  our  towns  should  kindle  within  us  a  just  pride  for  the 
past  and  a  new  inspiration  for  the  future.  To  this  end,  each 
town  needs  to  be  distinctly  conscious  of  itself,  jealous  of  its 
good  name,  liberal  in  supporting  its  schools  and  churches, 
adorning  its  park  or  "Tillage  Green,"  cemetery  and  streets, 
and  in  every  practicable  way  guarding  its  honor,  and  ambi- 
tious of  its  prosperity. 

In  New  England,  the  township  is  the  unit,  but  in  the  Southern 
and  in  many  of  the  Western  States  the  "  parish"  or  the  county 
is  the  unit,  while  the  township  organization  is  wanting  or  is 

*  Referring  to  the  example  set  in  Haddam. 


6 

comparatively  insignificant.  The  maintenance  of  schools  and 
roads  and  bridges,  the  support  of  the  poor  and  many  kindred 
matters  which  in  New  England  are  town  affairs,  are  there  man- 
aged countywise.  The  town  organizations  with  the  town  meet- 
ings where  every  citizen  is  the  peer  of  any  other,  have  been 
one  of  the  prime  factors  in  developing  the  sterling  traits  of 
'New  England  character.  They  have  fostered  that  self-reliance, 
independence  and  energy  which  have  given  strength  and  vitality 
to  our  northern  civilization  and  effectively  aided  in  the  main- 
tenance of  our  free  institutions.  The  influence  and  importance 
of  the  towns  of  New  England  was  early  and  ably  set  forth  by 
Samuel  Adams.  It  was  a  sound  motto  of  old  John  Adams, 
that  "  the  ownership  of  land  is  essential  to  individual  self-respect 
and  thrift  and  to  national  dignity  and  prosperity."  It  is  not 
the  landless,  but  farmers,  who  have  been  foremost  as  defenders 
of  liberty  because  they  have  been  thus  defenders  of  home.  The 
free  land  tenure,  the  system  of  small  farms  grouped  into  town- 
ships from  the  early  settlement  of  New  England  fostered  the 
free,  liberty-loving  spirit  of  our  fathers,  without  which  the  Rev- 
olutionary war  would  have  been  impossible,  for  these  "little 
democratic  republics"  nurtured  that  capacity  for  self  govern- 
ment to  which  was  due  the  achievement  of  our  independence. 

Says  Professor  Joel  Parker :  "  It  was  through  these  organiza- 
tions that  an  industrious  yeomanry,  while  following  the  plow, 
.  and  the  diligent  tenants  of  workshops  while  handling  their 
tools,  were  converted  into  an  armed  soldiery  on  the  first  news 
that  the  British  left  the  limits  of  Boston  and  were  marching 
into  the  country.  The  dragons'  ibeeth  that  produced  that  har- 
vest were  sown  in  the  shape  of  farmers  and  mechanics,  who, 
holding  themselves  in  readiness  as  minute  men,  required  but 
the  heat  of  warlike  intelligence  to  burst  into  full  life  and  vigor 
as  a  patriotic  army.  It  was  through  these  town  organizations, 
and  not  through  a  want  of  patriotism  elsewhere,  that  the  sup- 
port of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  more  effectual  in 
New  England  than  in  any  other  of  the  colonies." 

Nothing  analogous  to  our  town  system  prevails  in  the  South- 
ern States  or  in  England.  The  influence  of  these  town  organi- 
zations and  town  meetings,  where  all  meet  on  a  level  with- 
out distinction  of  race  or  party  or  sect,  has  largely  caused 


the  contrast  in  the  civilization  of  the  North  and  the  South,  from 
our  early  history  till  to-day.  In  the  language  of  Senator  Dawes, 
"With  the  township  here,  its  vital  force  unimpaired,  New 
England  can  never  become  South  Carolina  or  Mississippi,  and 
without  the  educating  influence  that  comes  of  the  town,  neither 
South  Carolina  nor  Mississippi  will  ever  become  New  England 
in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty  regulated  by  law.  They  are  the 
very  corner-stone  of  republican  institutions  among  us,  and  they  or 
their  equivalent  must  take  the  place  of  that  unorganized  parish 
system  by  which  Southern  plantation  society  is  loosely  linked 
together,  before  a  representative  republic,  in  anything  else  than 
name,  can  be  maintained  among  them.  The  town  is  not 
therefore  to  fade,  but  is  to  continue  to  be  the  nursery  of  intelli- 
gent, untrammeled,  thinking  freemen,  the  source,  the  supply  of 
the  government  they  themselves  have  instituted  on  this  conti- 
nent." My  sympathies  and  efforts  have  long  been  enlisted  in 
behalf  of  the  declining  towns  which  most  need  help  and  encour- 
agement. 

This  is  one  source  of  my  interest  in  the  work  of  Rural 
Improvement,  now  so  widely  diffused  through  the  State. 
Connecticut  cannot  afford  to  allow  any  of  these  old  towns  to 
die  out.  Many  of  them  have  a  noble  history,  and  if  we  of  the 
present  generation  do  our  duty,  they  are  to  have  a  grand  future. 
A  most  encouraging  history  would  be  that  fitly  recording  the 
achievements  of  those  who  have  gone  out  from  these  rural  dis- 
tricts which  are  thus  continually  enriching  the  great  centers  of 
population  and  wealth. 

2.  To  quicken  the  intellectual  life  of  the  people  is  an 
important  aim  of  these  associations.  Besides  the  liberal 
support  of  schools,  the  founding  of  libraries  is  an  important 
help  in  this  direction  which  should  be  encouraged  in  all 
our  towns.  Their  value  cannot  be  over-estimated.  The  sup- 
ply of  good  books  increases  the  demand.  A  taste  for  books 
has  been  awakened  in  many  towns  by  a  well-selected  library 
where  the  improvement  has  been  as  marked  in  the  quality 
as  in  the  quantity  of  the  books  read.  Such  a  library  natu- 
rally becomes  the  pride  and  treasure  of  a  town,  rendering 
it  a  more  desirable  place  of  residence,  adding  attractions  to 
every  intelligent  home  within  its  limits,  and  helping  both 


8 

teachers  and  pupils  in  the  schools.  With  books  at  hand,  the 
teacher  may  be  continually  progressing.  Without  them  he  is 
in  danger  of  getting  into  the  ruts.  The  mind  that  ceases  to 
progress  soon  retrogrades  ;  unless  himself  eager  for  improve- 
ment, the  teacher  can  impart  no  inspiration  or  love  of 
knowledge  to  his  pupils.  While  libraries  educate  the  whole 
people,  I  have  been  especially  gratified  to  observe  how  diligently 
their  volumes  are  used  by  the  school  boys  and  girls  who  would 
otherwise  have  only  the  dime  novel  or  papers  more  objection- 
able. Once  give  a  boy  a  taste  for  good  books  and  access  to  a 
choice  library,  and  then  place  him  where  you  will,  let  his 
calling  be  what  it  may,  he  will  find  time  for  study  and  will 
devote  the  intervals  of  labor  to  reading.  Multitudes  of  men, 
thus  self-educated,  owe  their  eminence  and  success  to  an  early 
taste  for  reading  and  access  to  libraries.  Their  example  should 
show  our  youth  that  their  evenings  need  not  be  idled  away 
because  the  days  must  be  occupied  with  business  or  labor. 

8.  The  promotion  of  good  fellowship  is  another  aim.  The 
charm  of  country  life,  so  dependent  on  the  interchange  of 
neighborly  courtesies  and  the  maintenance  of  friendly  relations, 
is  often  marred  by  needless  strifes  and  alienations.  The  social 
life  of  a  town  is  thus  sadly  embittered.  A  Kural  Improve- 
ment Association  tends  to  fraternize  the  people  of  a  town  by 
leading  all  classes  to  meet  on  common  ground  and  work 
together  for  a  common  object.  Thus  differences  of  rank,  or 
sect  or  party  are  forgotten,  while  as  fellow-citizens  they  carry 
out  plans  of  equal  interest  to  all,  and  effectively  combine 
to  promote  the  general  good.  In  some  towns,  good  fellowship 
as  well  as  intellectual  improvement  has  been  promoted  by 
organizing  reading  circles.  Selections  in  prose  and  poetry, 
often  a  play  of  Shakespeare,  the  several  parts  having  been 
previously  assigned,  are  the  subject  of  careful  private  study 
and  drill.  These  weekly  circles  make  a  profitable  evening 
school.  Their  social  influence  is  still  more  extended  by  an 
occasional  "  rehearsal "  of  a  more  public  character.  Divided 
as  the  residents  of  our  rural  districts  and  villages  too  often  are 
by  prejudice  or  neighborhood  difficulties,  every  association 
where  social  amenities  are  cultivated  should  be  encouraged. 
The  support  of  a  Village  Reading  Eoom,  well  supplied  with 


9 

the  leading  journals  of  the  day — daily,  weekly,  monthly  or 
quarterly — is  a  movement  in  the  same  direction.  A  course  of 
Lyceum  Lectures  is  sustained  by  many  Rural  Improvement 
Associations,  the  profits  of  which  are  their  "benefit "  while  the 
social  opportunities  thus  opened  are  clear  gain. 

An  annual  festival  under  the  direction  of  the  Bural  Im- 
provement Association  tends  to  deepen  and  sustain  public 
interest  in  its  work.  In  some  towns  literary  exercises,  ad- 
dresses, a  poem,  and  music,  fill  the  programme;  in  others  a 
collation  becomes  another  bond  of  union  and  fellowship.  In 
the  rigid,  and  sometimes  frigid,  state  of  rural  life,  too  often  found 
in  New  England,  we  need  to  cultivate  the  social  amenities  and 
learn  the  art  of  "turning  work  into  play."  The  supposed 
monotony  and  dullness  of  country  life  drive  many  to  the  city. 
It  is  wise  to  multiply  occasions  for  social  enjoyment.  The 
arbor-day  festival  may  help  to  counteract  the  tendency  of  rural 
life  to  isolation  and  seclusion,  lifting  out  of  the  ruts  of  a  dull 
plodding  monotony,  promoting  neighborly  feeling,  and  strength- 
ening social  ties.  The  rural  laborers  in  Switzerland  and  Ger- 
many socialize  far  more  than  American  farmers.  Their  festive 
spirit  is  a  strongly-marked  feature  of  their  character.  It  is 
manifested  in  the  family,  in  neighborhood  greetings  and  meet- 
ings, in  schools,  in  rifle  feasts,  in  processions  and  various  social 
gatherings.  They  have  a  passion  for  nature,  and  love  to  fre- 
quent their  beautiful  groves  and  gardens,  for  parks  or  woods 
abound  in  or  near  their  cities  and  towns.  This  genial  spirit  is 
everywhere  fostered  by  music — both  vocal  and  instrumental. 
As  a  result,  there  is  an  inexpressible  something  in  the  German 
character  that  carries  mirthful  and  happy  childhood  into  old 
age,  giving  an  added  charm  to  social  life,  and  lightness  and 
cheer  to  sober  work. 

4.  Another  aim  of  these  associations  is  the  promotion  of 
public  health  by  securing  better  hygienic  conditions  in  the 
homes  of  the  people  and  in  their  surroundings.  Some  of  our 
country  towns,  naturally  favorable  to  health  and  longevity, 
have  suffered  fearfully  from  the  ravages  of  diseases,  evidently 
caused  by  neglect  of  hygienic  laws.  In  many  towns  much  has 
lately  been  done  in  the  matter  of  drainage,  removal  of  waste 
and  guarding  wells  and  water  supplies  from  impurities. 


10 

5.  The  improvement  of  road  sides  is  attracting  much  atten- 
tion.    Some  towns  have  made  appropriations  to  clear  them  of 
brush  and  rubbish  and  keep  them  like  a  lawn.     Others  are 
adorning  them  with  extensive  lines  of  trees. 

6.  The  improvement  of  roads,  though  of  great  importance, 
has  secured  less  attention  from  these  associations,  as  the  town 
authorities  usually  care  for  them,  and  other  objects  are  more 
urgent.     Dr.  Bushnell  well  says  :  "  The  road  is  that  physical 
sign,  or  symbol,  by  which  you  will  best  understand  any  age  or 
people.     If  they  have  no  roads,  they  are  savages ;  for  the  road 
is  the  creation  of  man  and  a  type  of  civilized  society.     If  you 
wish  to  know  whether  society  is  stagnant,  learning  scholastic, 
religion  a  dead  formality,  you  may  learn  something  by  going 
into  universities  and  libraries  ;  something,  also,  by  the  work 
that  is  doing  on  cathedrals  and  churches,  or  in  them;    but 
quite  as  much  by  looking  at  the  roads.     For  if  there  is  any 
motion  in  society,  the  road,  which  is  the  symbol  of  motion, 
will  indicate  the  fact.     Nothing  makes  an  inroad  without  mak- 
ing a  road.     All  creative  action,  whether  in  government,  in- 
dustry, thought  or  religion,  creates  roads." 

7.  The  making  or  improving  of  sidewalks  meets  a  felt  want 
in   many   towns.      In    no    other   way   can   the   comfort   and 
sociality  of  a  village  be  promoted  so  economically  as  by  making 
sidewalks.     Simple  gravel  walks,  when  the  concrete  would  be 
too   expensive,  serve  an  admirable  purpose.     One  town   has 
lately  completed  many  miles  of  neat  sidewalks,  which  add 
greatly  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  village. 

The  fine  footways  abounding  throughout  England  invite  the 
pedestrian  habits  of  the  women  of  that  country.  It  is  largely 
because  they  exercise  daily  in  the  open  air,  that  they  retain  so 
long  the  bloom  and  vigor  of  youth.  More  outdoor  rambles 
would  promote  the  health  and  prolong  the  lives  of  American 
women.  Besides  favoring  the  luxury  and  healthfulness  of 
open  air  exercise,  footways  invite  friendly  calls  and  foster 
social  life  and  rural  enjoyment. 

8.  Street  lights  remove  another  hindrance  to  social  inter- 
course in  country  villages.     When  the  day's  work  is  done  the 
evening  is  the  favorite  time  for  calls,  if  the  darkness  does  not 
forbid.     The  cost  of  kerosene  illuminators  is  now  moderate. 


11 

It  is  one  of  the  signs  of  social  advancement  that  many  of  our 
associations  are  thus  practically  saying  "  Let  there  be  light." 

9.  Increased  attention  is  given  to  parks,  the  village  green, 
the  cemetery,  church  grounds,  school  lots  and  other  public 
grounds.  I  hope  hereafter  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  public 
parks  of  Connecticut,  some  of  which  are  already  exceedingly 
beautiful.  Others  are  now  planned  which  will  contribute 
greatly  to  the  beauty  and  adornment  of  our  State. 

Two  fine  parks,  recently  provided  by  private  munificence 
deserve  a  special  mention.  On  the  thirty -first  day  of  October, 
1878,  Hon.  David  Dudley  Field,  Stephen  J.  Field  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  Cyrus  W.  Field,  and  Henry 
M.  Field,  D.D.,  surviving  sons  of  Kev.  David  Dudley  Field, 
D.D.,  appropriately  celebrated  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of 
their  father's  marriage  by  presenting  to  the  town  of  Haddam 
two  tracts  of  land  for  a  public  park.  These  grounds,  finely 
laid  out  with  drives  and  walks  by  Mr.  Olmsted  of  New  York, 
the  landscape  gardener,  and  adorned  with  the  choicest  orna- 
mental trees,  indigenous  and  imported,  is  a  grand  contribution 
to  the  taste,  sociality,  good  fellowship,  education,  growth  and 
prosperity  of  the  town.  Isinglass  Hill,  a  high  bluff  on  the 
eastern  border  of  these  grounds  commands  for  many  miles  a 
magnificent  view  of  the  Connecticut  river  and  its  valley,  with 
the  long  range  of  hills  beyond.  In  behalf  of  the  friends  of 
rural  adornment  and  of  education,  so  far  as  I  may  represent 
them,  I  desire  to  express  to  the  eminent  Field  brothers,  a  high 
appreciation  of  their  grand  gift  to  Haddam  and  thus  to  Con- 
necticut, for  our  State  takes  a  lively  interest  in  the  growth  and 
prosperity  of  each  of  her  towns.  This  worthy  example  ought 
to  make  many  others,  opportune  as  it  is,  in  view  of  the  grow- 
ing interest  in  rural  improvement  throughout  our  State. 
There  is  hardly  one  of  our  towns,  that  has  not  at  home  or 
abroad,  some  favored  sons  who  by  forming  parks  or  founding 
schools  or  libraries,  could  easily  render  this  most  fitting  tribute 
to  their  mother  soil,  and  thus  be  gratefully  recognized  as  the 
benefactors  of  their  fellow  citizens  and  of  future  generations. 
The  ambition  to  beautify  and  benefit  one's  native  town  is 
worthy  of  the  best  and  noblest  characters.  There  is  a  rare 
luxury  in  witnessing  the  fruits  of  one's  benefactions,  giving 


12 

while  living  and  able  to  enjoy  the  rich  results,  rather  than 
leaving  legacies  to  be  lessened  or  lost  in  the  wrangles  of  con- 
tending heirs. 

The  value  of  a  park  was  happily  set  forth  by  Hon.  David 
Dudley  Field  in  the  following  presentation  address  given  before 
a  large  concourse  of  people  at  the  dedication  of  these  grounds. 

"  We  are  here  to  deliver  into  your  hands  the  parcel  of 
ground  on  which  we  are  standing,  and  that  other  which  lies  in 
view  before  us,  to  be  kept  as  pleasure  grounds  for  the  people 
of  Haddam  in  all  time  to  come.  We  give  them  in  memory  of 
our  father  and  mother,  who  were  married  seventy-five  years 
ago  to-day,  and  came  immediately  afterward  to  make  their 
abode  on  this  river-side,  where  he  was  soon  to  become  the 
pastor  of  the  church  and  congregation.  Here  they  lived 
active  and  useful  lives,  in  the  fear  of  God  and  love  of  man, 
doing  faithfully  their  several  duties,  he  in  public  ministrations 
from  pulpit  and  altar,  at  bridal,  baptism,  and  burial,  and  she 
in  the  quiet  tasks  of  her  well-ordered  household.  Here  they 
passed  their  first  years  together ;  here  they  raised  their  first 
domestic  altar,  and  here  most  of  their  children  were  born. 
For  this  cause,  and  in  grateful  remembrance  of  their  love  and 
sacrifices  for  us,  we,  their  surviving  children,  four  of  us  only 
out  of  ten,  present  these  memorials,  not  of  cold  stone,  though 
the  hills  about  us  teem  with  everlasting  granite,  but  of  shaded 
walks,  green  lawns,  and  spreading  trees,  where  this  people 
may  find  pleasure  and  refreshment,  generation  after  generation, 
so  long  as  these  fertile  meadows,  these  rugged  hills,  and  this 
winding  river  shall  endure.  And  remembering  that  "  beauty 
is  truth,  truth  beauty,"  we  hope  that  they  will  cultivate  here 
that  love  of  nature,  which  is  a  joy  in  youth  and  a  solace  in 
age ;  which  nourishes  the  affections,  and  refines  while  it 
exalts ;  which  rejoices  in  the  seasons  and  the  months  as  they 
pass,  with  their  varying  beauties  ;  catches  the  gladness  of  June 
and  the  radiance  of  the  October  woods ;  and  in  every  waking 
moment,  sees,  hears,  or  feels  something  of  the  world  around 
to  take  pleasure  in  and  be  grateful  for.  We  trust  that  they 
will  come,  not  in  this  year  only  or  this  century,  but  in  future 
years  and  centuries,  the  fair  young  girl,  the  matron  in  the 
glory  of  womanhood,  the  boy  and  the  man,  grandson  and 


13 

grandsire,  in  whatever  condition  or  circumstance,  poverty  or 
riches,  joy  or  sorrow,  to  find  here  a  new  joy  or  a  respite  from 
sorrow  ;  to  drink  in  the  light  of  sun  and  moon,  listen  to  the 
music  of  birds  and  winds,  feel  the  fresh  breath  of  life-sustain- 
ing air,  thank  God  and  take  courage. 

"  Eeverently  then  we  dedicate  these  memorials  of  our  parents, 
to  the  enjoyment  forever  hereafter  of  those,  and  the  descend- 
ants of  those,  whom  they  loved,  and  among  whom  they  dwelt." 

Koseland  Park,  in  Woodstock,  promises  to  be  one  of  the 
largest  and  finest  private  parks  in  the  country.  It  includes 
sixty  acres  of  land,  with  an  undulating  surface,  bordering  on 
Woodstock  Lake,  a  beautiful  pear-shaped  sheet  of  water  one 
mile  long  and  half  a  mile  wide,  situated  in  a  broad  amphi- 
theatre of  wooded  hills  and  fields,  some  fifteen  miles  long  and 
five  miles  wide.  The  park  contains  three  miniature  mounts, 
the  highest  of  which  is  Mount  Eliot,  so  named  from  the 
u  apostle"  John  Eliot  who  preached  to  the  Indians  in  Wood- 
stock, and  as  tradition  has  it,  upon  this  hill.  About  one- 
quarter  of  the  ground,  including  the  three  hills,  is  already  a 
well-wooded  grove  of  chestnut,  oak,  maple,  beach  and  but- 
ternut, many  of  which  have  reached  majestic  proportions. 
About  2000  ornamental  trees  of  choicest  varieties  have 
recently  been  planted  in  these  grounds  and  along  the  many 
paths  and  drive-ways.  Over  8000  flowering  shrubs,  plants 
and  rose  bushes  have  also  been  set  out.  200,000  loads  of 
sand  and  loam  have  already  been  used  in  filling  up  marshy 
spots  and  inequalities  and  in  grading  walks,  avenues  and 
grass-plots,  and  as  much  more  will  be  required  to  complete  the 
present  plans.  The  tasteful  buildings  erected  on  the  "  made 
grounds"  near  the  lake  are  a  fine  boat  and  bath  house,  a 
keeper's  lodge  with  ample  stable  and  shed.  A  windmill  sup- 
plies the  dryer  portion  of  the  park  with  water. 

The  citizens  of  Woodstock,  and  of  Windham  county,  owe 
this  magnificent  park  to  Henry  C.  Bowen,  of  the  New  York 
Independent,  who  has  already  expended  upon  it  over  $40,000. 
Though  the  work  is  rapidly  progressing  and  Mr.  Bowen 
usually  devotes  five  hours  a  day  during  the  summer  to  assist- 
ing and  directing  these  improvements,  the  work  will  not  be 
completed  till  1884  This  park,  accessible  to  all  classes,  is  a 


14 

favorite  place  of  resort  to  the  citizens  of  Woodstock  and 
indeed  of  Windham  county,  who  gratefully  appreciate  the 
taste  and  liberality  of  the  proprietor.  Thousands  of  people 
annually  gather  here  to  celebrate  the  fourth  of  July,  and  listen 
to  the  distinguished  speakers  invited  to  address  them.  In 
view  of  the  number  and  eminence  of  the  speakers  and  the  wide 
range  of  their  topics  this  celebration  on  these  beautiful  grounds 
is  quite  unique. 

10.  The  educational  bearings  of  this  subject,  if  less  obvious, 
are  not  less  important.  The  external  improvements  prompted 
by  these  associations  have  in  many  towns  developed  a  local 
pride  and  public  spirit  which  have  displaced  many  a  bleak, 
weather-worn  and  comfortless  school-house.  Public  interest 
once  enlisted  in  the  adornment  of  streets,  parks,  cemeteries  and 
kindred  plans  is  sure  to  embrace  the  school- house.  The  people 
are  learning  that  village  improvement  promotes  the  growth 
and  prosperity  of  a  town  by  inviting  wealthy  and  desirable 
residents  from  abroad,  just  as  neglected  streets,  school-houses 
and  other  signs  of  an  illiberal  policy  invest  a  town  with  an 
air  of  discouragement  and  decay.  The  influence  of  such  an 
association  in  cultivating  the  taste,  fostering  the  study  of 
nature,  developing  in  youth  a  love  of  flowers,  vines,  shrub- 
bery and  trees,  all  the  stronger  because  they  have  planted  or 
cultivated  them,  thus  fostering  domestic  attachments  and 
checking  the  excessive  passion  for  city  life,  suggest  some  of 
the  ways  in  which  it  supplements  the  work  of  the  school. 
The  love  of  nature  sharpens  the  senses  and  quickens  all  the 
intellectual  faculties.  An  early  interest  in  natural  history 
favors  habits  of  observation  and  trains  both  the  memory  and 
imagination. 

The  taste  should  be  early  cultivated.  To  love  the  beautiful 
should  be  held  as  a  religious  duty.  In  the  very  structure  of 
our  being,  God  rebukes  the  ignorance  or  indolence  that  so 
often  dwarfs  this  noble  faculty,  designed  to  be  an  ally  of  virtue 
subordinating  the  animal  and  sensuous  to  the  intellectual 
and  spiritual.  The  love  of  the  beautiful  may  become  a 
source  of  high  enjoyment,  and  give  new  incentives  to  mental 
effort.  It  reverently  admires  nature  and  makes  her  a  constant 
teacher. 


15 

"  No  department  of  rnind  ought  to  be  placed  higher  than  the 
love  of  the  beautiful.  The  love  of  beauty  in  God  must  be 
immense.  The  love  of  beauty  carries  a  high  moral  quality 
with  it.  It  is  a  law  that  we  should  worship  God  in  beauty. 
Nowhere  was  it  more  powerful  than  in  the  temple.  We  see  it 
in  Kevelation.  The  love  of  beauty  increases  in  people  the  idea 
they  have  of  the  truth." 

A  true  Christian  culture  should  lead  our  citizens,  each  to 
adorn  his  town,  village,  street,  school-house,  and  first  of  all  his 
home.  Every  tree,  flower  or  shrub  in  the  garden,  every  tasteful 
engraving  or  painting  in  the  house,  may  add  a  new  link  to  the 
golden  chain  which  should  ever  bind  the  heart  of  childhood  to 
the  hearth-stone.  Let  taste  brighten  the  joys  of  the  domestic 
circle,  and  help  to  invest  every  scene  in  life  with  higher  signifi- 
cance arid  beauty.  The  esthetic  element  as  an  educational 
force  has  been  often  ignored,  and  the  craving  of  the  juvenile 
mind  for  the  beautiful  rudely  repressed. 

Nature  is  the  great  educator.  Birds,  flowers,  insects,  and 
all  animals  are  our  practical  primary  teachers.  In  God's  plan, 
facts  and  objects  as  best  seen  in  the  country  are  the  earliest 
and  the  leading  instruments  of  developing  the  faculties  of  the 
juvenile  mind.  They  cannot  be  fully  trained  when  cooped  up 
within  brick  walls,  witnessing  only  city  scenes. 

In  all  our  history  the  country  has  proved  the  great  school 
of  mind.  Here  dwell  and  for  wise  reasons,  here  God  intended 
should  dwell,  the  great  majority  of  mankind.  The  country 
sends  far  more  than  its  proportion  of  gifted  men  to  the  great 
centers  of  influence.  It  is  thus  continually  enriching  the 
cities,  for  towards  them  are  flowing,  like  their  streams,  the 
material  and  still  more  the  mental  treasures  which  have  their 
origin  in  the  mountain  springs  and  without  which  the  cities 
would  die  out.  Called  officially  to  visit  all  the  towns  of 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  I  have  often  asked  "what  emi- 
nent men  have  you  raised  here."  Almost  every  town  can  give 
a  list  of  which  they  are  justly  proud.  A  most  instructive  his- 
tory would  be  that  which  should  fitly  record  the  achieve- 
ments of  those  who  have  gone  out  from  these  rural  districts 
to  fill  positions  of  commanding  influence.  In  the  language 
of  Dr.  Bushnell :  "  It  is  not  in  the  great  cities,  nor  in  the  con- 


16 

fined  shops  of  trade  but  principally  in  agriculture,  that  the 
best  stock  or  staple  of  men  is  grown.  It  is  in  the  open  air 
— in  communion  with  the  sky,  the  earth  and  all  living  things 
— that  the  largest  inspiration  is  drunk  in  and  the  vital  energies 
of  a  real  man  constructed."  Certainly  the  country  may  claim 
superior  advantages  for  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral  train- 
ing of  the  young,  wherever  good  schools  are  maintained. 

Though  I  studied  the  Kindergarten  system  in  Germany,  and 
advocate  it,  I  still  contend  that  the  best  sort  of  Kindergarten 
is  the  open  fields  and  varied  objects  of  the  country,  if  only 
the  eye  be  trained  to  habits  of  careful  observation.  There, 
things  are  studied  more  than  mere  words,  or  rather  the  per- 
ception of  objects  and  their  qualities  furnishes  the  material 
for  thought  and  gives  precision  to  language.  Hugh  Miller 
used  to  say  :  "  The  best  school  I  ever  attended  was  the  miscel- 
lany of  objects  and  circumstances  surrounding  me  in  my 
native  district,  challenging  the  first  exercise  of  my  senses  and 
my  fancy  and  that  is  a  species  of  education  open  to  all  .  ... 
Open  your  eyes,  the  commonest  objects  are  worth  looking 
at,  even  weeds  and  stones  and  the  most  familiar  animals." 
He  was  educated  by  the  rocks  of  old  Cromarty  on  the  shore 
of  the  North  Sea.  Scott  was  educated  by  the  sounding  surges 
of  the  sea.  Webster  was  educated  by  the  Salisbury  Mountains. 
How  different  would  have  been  the  history  of  Washington 
had  he  spent  his  youth  amid  the  excitements  and  diver- 
sions of  a  great  city  like  London.  Would  Jefferson  have 
attained  his  eminence  and  power,  had  he  been  early  dandled 
in  the  lap  of  affluence  in  a  city  like  Paris  ?  How  different 
would  have  been  the  career  of  the  great  naturalist  of  our  day, 
had  he  spent  his  childhood  in  a  large  city.  How  fortunate  for 
Agassiz  and  for  the  world  that  his  native  home  was  in  the 
beautiful  little  village  of  Mottier  in  Switzerland,  lying  midway 
between  the  lakes  of  Neuchatel  and  Morat.  The  woody  hills, 
the  gardens  and  vineyards,  the  banks,  cascades  and  lakes ; 
the  Jura  and  more  distant  Alps,  with  magnificent  glaciers, 
glistening  fields  of  snow  and  ice  ;  these  were  his  early  teachers. 
His  very  sports  served  to  convert  the  observing  boy  into  the 
future  naturalist.  Theke  were  boating,  fishing,  hunting,  study- 
ing birds  and  turtles,  gathering  bugs,  butterflies  and  other 


17 

insects,  roaming  in  the  woods,  taking  long  excursions  on  Lake 
Neuchatel,  in  whose  waters  clear  to  an  unusual  depth  he  could 
find  the  haunts  and  study  the  habits  of  the  fish ;  climbing 
steep  hills  and  rocky  cliffs  and  even  ascending  the  magnificent 
precipices  of  the  Jura.  Living  much  in  the  open  air,  he 
observed  the  birds  so  as  to  distinguish  them  by  their  beak, 
claws,  size,  form,  plumage,  song  or  flight.  If  in  early  life  he 
knew  less  of  books  he  had  studied  nature  more. 

The  late  Charles  Hammond,  one  of  the  most  successful  of 
American  teachers,  used  to  say  he  was  educated  by  the  grand 
scenery  of  his  native  town — Union — comprising  the  highest 
land  in  the  State  east  of  the  Connecticut  river.  From  the 
homestead,  he  could  see  the  church  spires  in  many  of  the 
surrounding  towns.  From  a  hill  near  by,  he  used  to  "gaze 
at  Wachusett  Mountain  in  Massachusetts,  and  in  a  clear  day 
could  distinctly  see  the  deep  blue  peak  of  Monadnock  in 
Jeffrey,  New  Hampshire."  To  continue  his  own  words,  "  my 
father  observed  nature  and  loved  flowers,  and  early  taught  me 
to  observe  the  properties  of  plants  and  trees,  and  learn  the 
names,  habits,  retreats  and  voices  of  the  birds."  He  often 
revisited  this  grand  scenery  to  which  he  attributed  the  inspira- 
tion of  his  youth. 

I  often  advise  the  sons  of  wealth  in  our  cities  to  spend  at 
least  one  year  in  the  country,  with  its  freer  sports,  and  wider 
range  of  rambles,  or  better  still,  for  both  physical  and  mental 
training,  to  give  one  season  to  hard  work  on  the  farm  or  in  the 
shop.  The  practical  skill  thus  gained  in  adapting  means  to 
ends  in  observing  things,  common  objects  and  animals,  may 
compensate  for  some  loss  of  book  learning  and  lead  one 
afterwards,  like  Agassiz,  to  pursue  text-books  with  greater  zest. 

11.  My  interest  in  this  work  centers  in  the  improvement  of 
the  homes  and  home  life  of  our  people.  "  The  hope  of  America 
is  the  homes  of  America,"  and  the  hope  of  Connecticut  is  the 
homes  of  Connecticut.  There  remain  still  too  many  homes 
and  grounds  desolate,  neglected  and  repulsive,  where  taste  and 
trees,  shrubbery,  hedges  or  creeping  vines  with  a  lawn  would 
make  "  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose."  Unquestionably, 
neglect  and  slatternliness  in  and  around  the  house  repel  from 
their  rural  homes  many  youth  who  might  otherwise  be  bound 


18 

in 'strongest  ties  to  the  fireside.  Our  farmers  and  mechanics, 
or  their  thoughtful  and  thrifty  wives,  are  beginning  to  realize 
how  easily  and  economically,  often  without  any  outlay  of 
money,  they  can  surround  their  homes  with  flowers,  the  Vir- 
ginia creeper,  grape  vines  or  trees,  and  thus  increase  the 
beauty,  the  attractions  and  market  value  of  the  homestead. 
These  embellishments  of  the  home  and  grounds  help  to  culti- 
vate domestic  sentiments. 

Without  a  Rural  Improvement  Association  our  best  towns 
fall  far  short  of  what  they  might  be  and  ought  to  be.  Too 
often,  neglected  private  grounds,  dilapidated  dwellings,  barns 
or  sheds,  or  a  street  ugly  with  piles  of  decaying  brush  or 
chips,  discarded  fruit  cans,  broken  harrows,  carts  or  sleds, 
a  front  fence  with  missing  pickets  and  a  disabled  gate,  give 
an  air  of  shiftlessness  that  sadly  mars  the  effect  of  an 
otherwise  beautiful  village.  Here  an  Association  is  needed  to 
develop  that  private  taste  and  public  spirit  which  will  remove 
such  defects  and  disfigurements.  When  every  citizen  is  thus 
stimulated  to  make  his  own  grounds  and  wayside  not  only 
free  from  rubbish,  but  neat  and  attractive,  the  entire  town 
becomes  so  inviting  and  home-like  as  to  give  new  value  to 
its  wealth  and  new  attractions  to  all  its  homes.  Such  affec- 
tionate care  and  attention  to  the  homes  indicate  a  kindly, 
intelligent,  home-loving  people,  and  no  better  praise  need  be 
given  to  any  people  than  that  they  tenderly  cherish  their  homes. 
A  stranger  can  hardly  drive  through  such  a  town  without  say- 
ing "  Here  are  people  of  refinement,  who  love  their  homes, 
and  therefore  tastefully  guard  the  surroundings  of  their  daily 
life."  These  surroundings,  trifling  as  they  seem  to  some,  are 
the  more  important,  because  they  are  constant  forces  in  mould- 
ing character.  "  Cleaning  up,  dusting,  putting  things  in  order," 
are  little  matters  in  the  parlor,  sitting-room  or  kitchen,  yet 
how  soon  each  becomes  forbidding,  when  these  trifles  are  neg- 
lected. Just  so  in  a  village,  these  minor  matters  neglected, 
and  the  comfort,  content,  reputation  and  prosperity  of  a  whole 
community  suffer,  but  worst  of  all,  home  life  suffers  and  char- 
acter deteriorates. 

Modern  civilization  relates  specially  to  the  homes  and  social 
life  of  the  people,  to  their  health,  comfort  and  thrift,  their 


19 

intellectual  and  moral  advancement.  In  earlier  times  and 
other  lands,  men  were  counted  in  the  aggregate.  They  were 
valued  as  they  helped  to  swell  the  revenues  or  retinues  of  kings 
and  nobles.  The  government  was  the  unit,  and  each  individual 
only  added  one  to  the  roll  of  soldiers  or  serfs.  With  us, 
the  individual  is  the  unit  and  the  government  is  for  the  people 
as  well  as  by  the  people. 

It  is  a  good  omen  that  public  interest  in  the  embellishments 
of  rural  homes  and  villages  is  widely  extending,  and  that  the 
varied  charms  of  the  country  with  its  superior  advantages  for 
the  physical  and  moral  training  of  children  are  attracting  many 
thoughtful  men  to  the  simpler  enjoyments  and  employments  of 
rural  life.  With  the  growth  of  public  taste  the  day  is  not 
distant  when  beautiful  country  seats  and  villages  will  abound 
throughout  Connecticut.  Dr.  Bushnell,  with  his  keen  observa- 
tion and  intense  love  of  rural  scenery  was  wont  to  say,  "No 
part  of  our  country  between  the  two  oceans  is  susceptible  of 
greater  external  beauty  than  Connecticut."  A  taste  for  rural 
adornment  is  a  source  of  physical,  mental  and  moral  health 
as  well  as  enjoyment.  The  parentage  of  parks,  lawns,  trees, 
flowers,  vines  and  shrubs  becomes  a  matter  of  just  pride  and 
binds  one  to  the  spot  he  has  adorned. 

The  hankering  for  city  diversions  and  excitements,  and  am- 
bition for  easier  lives  and  more  genteel  employments  have 
brought  ruin  to  multitudes  and  financial  disaster  to  the  nation. 
A  great  peril  to  the  land  to-day  comes  from  the  swelling 
throngs,  ranging  from  the  reckless  tramp  to  the  fashionable 
idler,  who  are  ever  devising  expedients,  foul  or  fair,  to  get 
a  living  without  work.  The  disparagement  of  country  life  has 
been  one  of  the  worst  tendencies  of  the  times. 

Every  influence  should  therefore  be  combined  to  foster 
home  attachments,  for  there  is  protection  as  well  as  education 
in  the  fervent  love  of  home  with  its  sacred  associations.  Patri- 
otism itself  hinges  on  the  domestic  sentiments.  When  one's 
home  becomes  the  Eden  of  taste  and  interest  and  joy,  those 
healthful  local  ties  are  formed  which  bind  him  first  and  most  to 
the  spot  he  has  embellished,  and  then  to  his  town,  his  State 
and  country.  Whatever  adorns  one's  home  and  ennobles  his 
domestic  life,  strengthens  his  love  of  country  and  nurtures  all 


20 

the  better  elements  of  his  nature.  On  the  other  hand,  no  man 
without  local  attachments  can  have  genuine  patriotism.  As 
happy  in  one  place  as  in  another,  he  is  like  a  tree  planted  in  a 
tub,  portable  indeed,  but  at  the  expense  of  growth  and  strength. 
Said  Monsieur  Lariaux,  the  French  Deputy  to  the  American 
Evangelical  Alliance,  in  his  farewell  address,  "  your  homes, 
homes,  sweet  homes — these  are  the  safeguards  of  your  freedom. 
Oh,  pray,  as  you  gather  at  your  family  altars,  that  my  poor 
France  may  have  such  homes." 

In  traveling  thousands  of  miles  annually  for  many  years, 
my  experience  has  led  me  to  expect  kindness  and  refinement 
in  the  humblest  hamlet  to  which  flowers,  well  trimmed  shrubs, 
or  neat  awd  cultivated  grounds  invite.  But  these  outward 
adornments  of  the  house,  however  valuable,  are  but  symbols  of 
what  should  be  the  attractions  of  its  inner  life,  realizing  the 
highest  beauty  in  the  unwearied  and  delicate  attentions  of  each 
to  all.  The  central  duty  of  life  is  the  creation  of  happy  homes. 
The  higher  aim  of  the  industries  of  the  world,  whether  in  agri- 
culture, manufactures  or  commerce,  and  the  purpose  for  which 
government  itself  is  worthy  to  be  sustained,  is  that  men  may 
live  in  happy  homes.  Let  then  the  sunlight  of  generous  love 
fertilize  our  homes  as  the  garden  of  God — worthy  to  be  as 
heaven  designed,  a  divine  institution,  the  only  earthly  paradise, 
the  best  symbol  of  and  the  best  school  for  the  paradise  above, 
the  spot  most  sacred  on  earth,  to  be  cherished  with  the  most 
grateful  memories  in  all  the  future.  Back  to  this  holy  ground 
consecrated  by  flowers  and  shrubs  and  trees  each  tenderly  asso- 
ciated with  a  mother's  love  and  a  father's  care,  let  Thanksgiving 
gather  the  scattered  circle.  Let  the  Christmas  tree  bear  some 
fruit,  even  for  the  youngest.  Let  the  birthdays  be  happily 
observed,  and  the  marriage  anniversary  joyfully  remembered. 

The  home  should  be  the  first  and  chief  place  to  promote  a 
love  of  flowers,  vines,  shrubs  and  trees  by  cultivating  them, 
and  thus  early  develop  a  love  for  the  beautiful  in  nature,  in 
art  and  still  more  in  character.  We  need  more  heartily  to 
cultivate  home  affections,  provide  home  enjoyments  and  foster 
home  courtesies.  In  the  every  day  intercourse  of  home,  there 
should  be  a  more  sacred  observance  of  the  amenities  of  life 
and  a  freer  interchange  of  kindly  feeling.  As  flowers  seem 


21 

worthless  to  the  thoughtless,  so  the  morning  and  evening 
salutations  in  the  family  may  seem  little  in  themselves,  but 
when  fitly  observed  are  mighty  in  their  influence.  As  the 
sunbeam  is  composed  of  myriads  of  minute  rays,  so  the  home 
should  be  illumined  and  brightened  by  nature's  richest  hues 
without  and  still  more  by  winning  smiles  within,  cordial  greet- 
ings, loving  looks,  gentle  words,  sweet  laughter  and  nameless 
little  kindnesses.  Such  beauties  of  nature  and  art,  such  ameni- 
ties and  affections  should  be  the  sunshine  of  home.  They 
refresh  and  purify  the  social  circle.  Like  the  clinging  vine, 
they  twine  themselves  around  the  heart,  calling  forth  its  purest 
emotions  and  securing  its  most  healthful  activity.  Such  a 
home  is  worthy  the  name  Ordinance  of  Grod.  Such  a  heaven 
here  will  help  prepare  its  members  for  the  heaven  above. 
Such  an  ideal  may  be  an  inspiration  towards  its  realization. 

If  parents  combine  to  make  the  circle  of  home-life  beautiful 
without  and  within,  they  will  sow  the  seeds  of  truth,  kindness, 
honesty,  and  fidelity  in  the  hearts  of  their  children  from  which 
they  may  reap  a  harvest  of  happiness  and  virtue.  The  mem- 
ory of  a  beautiful  and  happy  home,  and  a  sunny  childhood  is 
one  of  the  richest  legacies  parents  can  leave  to  their  children. 
The  heart  will  never  forget  its  hallowed  influences.  It  is  a 
fountain  of  enjoyment,  to  which  the  lapse  of  years  will  only 
add  new  sweetness.  Such  a  memory  is  a  constant  inspiration 
for  good  and  restraint  from  evil.  If  taste  and  culture  adorn 
our  homes,  and  grounds,  and  music  adds  its  charms,  our 
children  will  find  the  healthful  pursuits  and  pleasures  of  rural 
homes  more  attractive  than  the  pomp,  and  glare,  and  whirl 
of  city  life.  Such  early  occupations  and  enjoyments  will 
invest  home  life,  and  then  school  life  and  all  ones  future  with 
new  interest  and  value,  with  new  significance  and  joyousness. 
For  life  is  ever  what  we  make  it.  We  may  \>y  our  blindness 
or  folly  or  sin  live  in  a  world  of  darkness  and  gloom,  or  we 
may  live  in  a  world  full  of  sunlight,  and  beauty,  and  joy,  for 
the  world  without  always  reflects  the  world  within. 

12.  These  Associations  have  awakened  new  interest  in  tree- 
planting,  both  ornamental  and  economic.  In  answer  to  the 
question  what  ornamental  trees  to  plant,  I  have  usually  recom- 
mended among  our  native  trees  the  following,  naming  them  in 


22 

the  order  of  preference  :  The  elm,  maple,  tulip,  ash,  linden  or 
basswood,  hemlock,  white  oak,  black  walnut,  and  hickory. 

The  white  ash  deserves  more  favor  both  as  an  ornamental 
and  a  timber  tree.  Combining  lightness,  strength,  toughness, 
elasticity  -and  beauty  of  grain  in  a  rare  degree,  it  is  in  great 
and  growing  demand  for  farming  tools,  furniture,  interior 
finishing  of  houses  and  railroad  cars,  the  construction  of  car- 
riages, for  oars  and  pulley  blocks,  and  many  other  purposes. 
The  excellence  of  our  ash  is  one  secret  of  the  preference  given 
abroad  to  American  agricultural  implements.  It  is  hardy,  will 
bear  the  bleakest  exposure,  is  a  rapid  grower  and  attains  large 
size,  but  will  not  thrive  on  poor  lands.  It  is  every  way  supe- 
rior to  the  European  ash,  much  as  that  has  been  cultivated  and 
lauded  abroad. 

Connecticut  is  rich  in  its  variety  of  native  trees,  having 
nearly  sixty  species,  of  which  about  forty  are  sizable  for  tim- 
ber. The  elm,  when  growing  under  favorable  conditions,  has 
been  pronounced  "  the  most  magnificent  vegetable  of  the  tem- 
perate zone."  The  tulip  tree  or  common  white  wood  deserves 
much  greater  favor  as  an  ornamental  tree.  It  is  a  rapid  grower, 
has  a  straight  stem  and  attains  large  size.  Taken  from  the 
woods  when  ten  or  fifteen  feet  high,  it  is  not  likely  to  live,  but 
transplanted  young  from  the  nursery  it  proves  thrifty  and 
hardy.  It  is  a  common  mistake  to  select  too  old  trees  for 
transplanting — so  old  that  they  must  be  beheaded.  Not  even 
the  elm  ever  developes  its  full  symmetry  when  subjected  to 
such  unnatural  treatment.  It  is  better  to  transplant  all  trees 
so  young  that  with  complete  roots  and  good  care  they  can  grow 
without  cropping. 

Among  imported  trees  the  European  larch  should  hold  a 
prominent  place.  It  combines  the  three  qualities  of  rapidity 
of  growth,  symmetry  of  form  and  durability  of  timber.  Mr. 
Maro  Hammond,  of  Vernon,  covered  a  worn-out,  unsightly, 
gravelly  hill  in  the  rear  of  his  home  with  a  thousand  larch,  dur- 
ing this  spring  of  1880.  If  these  thrive,  he  is  to  set  out  a  much 
larger  number  next  spring.  John  W.  Nichols,  of  Branford, 
plants  a  large  number  this  year.  Three  thousand  larch  and 
other  exotics  were  set  out  in  Clinton  last  .year,  besides  many 
native  trees.  Some  ten  thousand  larch  trees  were  planted 


23 

last  spring  in  Pomfret  to  reclaim  exhausted  hillsides.  If  these 
experiments  in  recuperating  sterile  soils  are  successful,  they 
may  lead  to  important  economic  results  in  addition  to  the 
adornment  given  to  fields  now  barren  and  unsightly.  Grigor 
says,  "ISTo  tree  is  so  valuable  as  the  larch  in  its  fertilizing 
effects  arising  from  the  richness  of  its  foliage  which  it  sheds 
annually.  The  yearly  deposit  is  very  great ;  the  leaves  remain 
and  are  consumed  on  the  spot  where  they  drop."  Trees  also 
enrich  the  soil  by  a  curious  chemistry  which  disintegrates  even 
the  rocks,  and  transmutes  their  particles  into  forms  of  life  and 
beauty.  The  radicles  and  rootlets,  in  their  under-ground  labor- 
atory, secrete  acids  which  dissolve  the  very  sands  and  stones. 

In  many  positions  groves  are  of  great  service  as  wind-breaks ; 
even  narrow  strips  of  trees  afford  a  shelter  to  fruit  trees  and  to 
various  crops,  as  well  as  a  shield  to  cattle  from  piercing  winds. 
Evergreens  serve  best  for  screens,  as  deciduous  trees  are  leaf- 
less when  their  shelter  is  most  needed,  especially  for  stock 
and  around  farm  buildings.  The  evergreens  most  suitable 
for  this  purpose  are  the  Norway  spruce,  white  pine,  Scotch 
pine,  and  Austrian  pine ;  and  next  to  these  are  the  American 
arbor  vitas,  hemlock,  and  spruce.  Sheltered  orchards  are  most 
productive  and  less  likely  to  lose  their  fruit  prematurely  by 
violent  winds,  and  the  farmer  with  proper  wind-screens  con- 
sumes less  fuel  in  his  house  and  less  forage  in  his  stables. 

In  some  portions  of  Germany  the  law  formerly  required 
every  landholder  to  plant  trees  along  his  road  frontage.  Happy 
would  it  be  for  us  if  the  sovereigns  of  our  soil  would  each 
make  such  a  law  for  himself.  Happy,  also,  if  the  law  of 
usage,  fashion,  or  interest  here,  as  did  the  civil  law  there, 
required  that  every  young  man  before  he  married  should 
plant  a  wedding  tree.  In  some  of  our  Western  States  tree- 
planting  by  the  road-side  is  encouraged  by  a  bounty  from  the 
State  treasury,  and  in  the  fields  by  both  a  bounty  and  exemp- 
tion from  taxation  for  a  term  of  years.  The  law  in  Minnesota 
provides  that  u  every  person  planting,  protecting  and  cultiva- 
ting forest  trees  for  three  years,  one-half  mile  or  more  along 
any  public  highway,  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  for  ten  years 
thereafter  an  annual  bounty  of  two  dollars  for  each  half-mile 
so  planted  and  cultivated,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  State  treas- 


24 

ury ;  but  such  bounty  shall  not  be  paid  any  longer  than  such 
line  of  trees  is  maintained."  I  may  be  pardoned  for  repeating 
a  personal  allusion.  The  maples  which  I  planted,  when  a 
mere  boy,  before  the  old  homestead  in  Litchfield  county,  are 
now  beautiful  and  stately  trees.  As  I  have  often  said,  they 
have  paid  me  a  thousand-fold  for  the  work  they  cost,  and 
added  new  charms  to  that  beautiful  spot,  to  which  I  count  it  a 
privilege  to  make  an  annual  visit.  Among  the  memories  of 
my  boyhood,  no  day  has  recurred  with  such  frequency  and 
satisfaction  as  that  then  devoted  to  tree-planting.  My  interest 
in  this  subject  is  due  to  this  incident  (or  perhaps  accident)  of 
my  boyhood.  I  should  be  thankful  if  I  could  help  put  a  sim- 
ilar incident,  and  an  equally  grateful  experience,  into  the  child- 
hood of  our  boys  of  to-day. 

In  tree-planting,  the  economic  and  ornamental,  touch  at  so 
many  points  that  the  cases  are  rare  where  they  really  diverge. 
Nothing,  for  example,  can  add  so  much  to  the  beauty  and 
attractiveness  of  our  country  roads  as  long  avenues  of  fine 
trees.  One  sees  this  beautifully  illustrated  in  France,  where,  for 
over  a  hundred  miles  on  a  stretch,  the  road  is  lined  with 
trees.  In  many  ways  the  first  Napoleon's  interest  in  arbori- 
culture proved  a  benefaction  to  France.  No  time  should  be 
lost  in  securing  the  same  grand  attraction  to  the  highways  of 
Connecticut.  Growing  on  land  otherwise  running  to  waste, 
such  trees  would  yield  most  satisfactory  returns.  The  shade 
and  beauty  would  be  grateful  to  every  traveler,  but  doubly  so 
to  the  owner  and  the  planter,  as  the  happy  experience  of  many 
Connecticut  farmers  can  testify.  A  grand  work  in  this  direc- 
tion is  already  well  started.  No  class  can  contribute  so  much 
to  the  adornment  of  our  public  roads  as  the  farmers.  They 
have  already  in  abundance  the  very  best  trees  for  the  roadside, 
such  as  the  elm,  maple,  ash,  American  linden  (or  bass),  oak, 
and  in  some  localities  the  walnut.  The  hard  maple  will  thrive 
in  dry  and  gravelly  soils,  while  the  elm  and  red  maple  are 
specially  desirable  for  moist,  low  ground.  As  the  maples 
should  be  planted  twenty-five  feet  apart,  and  the  elms  from 
forty  to  fifty,  pgplars  or  willows  or  trees  growing  rapidly  from 
scions,  may  be^placed  between,  to  be  cut  down  when  their 
statelier  neighbors  require  the  room  for  their  full  development. 


25 

Tree-planting  is  fitted  to  give  a  needful  lesson  of  forethought 
to  the  juvenile  mind.  Living  only  in  the  present  and  for  the 
present,  youth  sow,  too  often,  only  where  they  can  quickly 
reap.  A  meager  crop  soon  in  hand,  outweighs  a  golden 
harvest  long  in  maturing.  They  should  learn  to  forecast  the 
future  as  the  condition* of  wisdom.  Arboriculture  is  a  disci- 
pline in  foresight — it  is  always  planting  for  the  future,  and 
sometimes  for  the  distant  future.  Says  Washington  Irving, 
"  There  is  something  nobly  simple  and  pure  in  such  a  taste  for 
trees.  It  argues  a  sweet  and  generous  nature  to  have  this 
strong  friendship  for  the  hardy  and  glorious  sons  of  the  forest. 
There  is  a  serene  majesty  in  woodland  scenery  that  enters  into 
the  soul,  dilates  and  elevates  it,  and  fills  it  with  noble  inclina- 
tions. There  is  a  grandeur  of  thought  connected  with  this 
heroic  line  of  husbandry.  It  is  worthy  of  liberal  and  free- 
born  and  aspiring  men.  He  who  plants  an  oak,  looks  forward 
to  future  ages  and  plants  for  posterity.  He  cannot  expect  to 
enjoy  its  shelter,  but  he  exults  in  the  idea  that  the  acorn 
which  he  has  buried  in  the  earth  shall  grow  up  into  a  lofty  pile, 
,and  shall  keep  on  flourishing  and  increasing  and  benefiting 
mankind  long  after  he  has  ceased  to  tread  his  paternal  fields." 
It  was  the  trees  of  his  own  planting  at  Sunnyside-on-the- 
Hudson,  more  than  the  beauty  of  the  surrounding  landscape, 
that  led  Irving  to  say,  "After  all  my  wanderings,  I  return  to 
this  spot  with  a  heartfelt  preference  for  it  over  all  others  in  the 
world."  It  was  the  simple  beauty  he  had  created  at  Marsh- 
field, — the  grassy  lawns,  the  shaded  approaches,  the  hundreds 
of  trees  of  his  planting, — that  bound  Daniel  Webster  so 
strongly  to  that  sequestered  spot.  The  charm  of  Abbotsford, 
the  grand  Mecca  of  Scotland,  comes  mainly  from  its  beautiful 
ivy  and  shrubbery  and  the  thousands  of  trees  planted  by  the 
hand  of  its  illustrious  proprietor.  Says  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
"  My  heart  clings  to  this  place  I  have  created.  There  is  scarce 
a  tree  in  it  that  does  not  owe  its  being  to  me.  Once  well 
planted,  a  tree  will  grow  when  you  are  sleeping,  and  it  is 
almost  the  only  thing  that  needs  no  tending." 

Over  three  million  dollars  have  been  expended  in  the  last 
ten  years  in  Connecticut,  in  building  and  repairing  school 
houses.  Wise  and  necessary  as  was  this  expenditure,  had  one- 


26 

hundredth  part  of  this  sum  been  spent  annually  in  planting 
trees  and  adorning  the  school  grounds,  a  still  better  result 
would  have  been  accomplished  in  cultivating  the  taste  of  our 
youth,  leading  them  to  study  and  admire  our  noble  trees,  and 
realize  that  they  are  the  grandest  and  most  beautiful  products 
of  nature  and  form  the  finest  drapery  that  adorns  this  earth  in 
all  lands.  Thus  taught,  they  will  wish  to  plant  and  protect 
trees,  and  find  in  their  own  happy  experience  that  there  is  a 
peculiar  pleasure  in  their  parentage,  whether  forest,  fruit  or 
ornamental — a  pleasure  that  never  cloys,  but  grows  with  their 
growth.  Such  offspring  they  will  watch  with  pride,  as  every 
year  new  beauties  appear.  Like  grateful  children,  they  bring 
rich  filial  returns  and  compensate  a  thousand-fold  for  the  trou- 
ble they  cost.  This  love  of  trees  early  implanted  in  the  school 
and  fostered  in  the  home,  will  be  sure  to  make  our  youth  prac- 
tical arborists.  They  should  learn  that  trees  have  been  the  ad- 
miration of  the  greatest  and  best  men  in  all  ages.  The  ancients 
understood  well  the  beauty  and  hygienic  value  of  trees.  The 
Hebrews  almost  venerated  the  Palm.  It  was  the  chosen  sym- 
bol of  Judea  on  their  coins  and  graven  on  the  doors  of  the 
temple  as  the  sacred  sign  of  justice.  The  Cedar  of  Lebanon 
was  the  pride  of  the  Jews  and  became  to  them  the  emblem 
of  strength  and  beauty  as  is  seen  in  Ezekiel's  description  of  a 
Cedar  in  Lebanon  with  fair  branches  and  with  a  shadowing 
shroud  and  of  a  high  stature  and  his  top  was  among  the  thick 
boughs.  The  height  was  exalted  above  all  the  trees  of  the 
field  and  his  boughs  were  multiplied  and  his  branches  became 
long.  Thus  was  he  fair  in  his  greatness,  in  the  length  of  his 
branches,  nor  any  tree  in  the  garden  of  God  like  unto  him  in 
beauty. 

The  Egyptians,  Greeks  and  Eomans  were  proficients  in  tree 
planting.  Hence  Thebes,  Memphis,  Athens,  Carthage,  Kome, 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  as  their  very  ruins  still  show,  had 
each  their  shaded  streets  or  parks.  Two  thousand  years  ago, 
it  was  the  ambition  of  the  richest  Eomans  to  maintain  a  rural 
home  in  or  near  the  city  as  it  is  of  the  wealthy  Londoner, 
Viennese,  or  Berliner  to-day,  and  their  ancient  villas  were  most 
lavishly  adorned.  The  Paradise  of  the  Persians  was  filled  with 
blossoming  trees  and  long  lines  of  roses.  This  taste  for  beauti- 


27 

ful  gardens  was  transplanted  from  Persia  to  Greece,  and  the 
greatest  Greek  Philosophers  held  their  schools  in  beautiful 
gardens  and  groves.  The  devastation  of  parks,  the  destruction 
of  shade  trees,  the  neglect  of  public  streets  and  private  grounds, 
the  decay  of  rural  tastes  and  the  utter  slight  of  home  adorn- 
ments were  clearer  proofs  of  the  great  relapse  to  barbarism  than 
the  vandalism  which  merely  destroyed  the  proud  monuments 
of  classic  art  and  literature. 

In  tree  planting,  the  beginning  only  is  difficult.  It  is  the 
first  step  that  costs — at  least  it  costs  effort  and  persuasion  to  set 
this  thing  on  foot — but  that  step  once  taken,  others  are  sure  to 
follow.  On  this  account,  I  have  tried  various  devices  to  get 
our  vouth  initiated  in  tree-planting.  In  1876  an  effort  was  made 
to  promote  u  Centennial  Tree-Planting  "  by  the  offer  of  prizes, 
which  proved  successful  far  beyond  my  expectation.  Many 
youth  in  Connecticut  whose  first  experience  as  little  arborists 
was  prompted  by  those  prizes,  have  become  so  interested  in 
this  pleasant  work  that  they  have  continued  it  each  subsequent 
spring.  In  1878  the  accident  of  the  blowing  down  of  a  famous 
willow  led  me  to  offer  them  several  thousand  scions.  Beau- 
tiful as  that  exotic  is,  I  was  careful  to  state  that  it  is  not  com- 
parable to  many  of  our  majestic  natives,  saying  in  a  circular 
then  addressed  to  our  boys:  "Because  the  main  tug  is  at  the 
start,  on  account  of  the  inertia  of  ignorance  and  indifference, 
that  start  should  be  made  easy.  I  should  greatly  prefer  to 
start  five  thousand  elms  or  maples  this  year  in  Connecticut,  if 
it  could  be  done  as  easily  as  my  five  thousand  willow  scions 
seem  likely  to  be  stuck  in  the  ground.  This  proposal  is  made 
as  a  mere  beginning  in  tree  planting,  sure  to  lead  to  something 
more  and  better." 

These  and  other  plans  have  manifestly  increased  the  interest 
of  our  youth  in  arboriculture  through  the  State,  There  is 
nothing  more  ennobling  than  the  consciousness  of  doing 
something  for  future  generations,  something  which  shall  prove 
a  growing  benefaction  in  coming  years.  Tree-planting  is  an 
easy  way  of  perpetuating  one's  memory  long  after  he  has 
passed  away.  The  poorest  can  in  this  way  provide  himself 
with  a  monument  grander  than  the  loftiest  shaft  of  chiseled 
stone,  which  may  suggest  duty  to  the  living  while  it  commemo- 


28 

rates  the  dead.  Such  associations  grow  in  interest  from  year  to 
year  and  from  generation  to  generation.  It  will  yield  a  rich 
harvest  to  future  generations,  if  we  can  now  stimulate  a  revival 
of  arboriculture  throughout  our  State.  I  confess  to  a  grateful 
pride  in  the  fact  that  something  in  this  line  has  been  recently 
accomplished  in  nearly  every  town  of  Connecticut.  If  this 
work  is  duly  extended,  our  whole  State  will  be  transformed 
into  a  series  of  beautiful  villages.  Nothing  can  add  such  a 
charm  to  our  country  roads  as  long  and  magnificent  avenues  of 
stately  trees, 

The  benefits  that  may  accrue  to  our  country  from  the  dis- 
cussion of  tree-planting,  were  strikingly  exhibited  two  hundred 
and  fourteen  years  ago,  when  Sir  John  Evelyn  published  his 
celebrated  work,  entitled,  u  Sylva ;  or,  a  Discourse  on  Forest 
Trees  and  the  Propagation  of  Timber."  It  was  at  once 
received  with  great  public  favor,  and  honored  with  royal  com- 
mendation. He  had  remarkable  success  in  awakening  general 
interest  in  sylviculture.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Koyal  Society,  and  wrote  this  book  at  its  special  request,  and 
that  society  has  originated  few  books  in  the  last  two  hundred 
years  more  useful  than  this  which  still  survives  in  its  grand 
results,  although  his  other  works  on  painting,  sculpture,  archi- 
tecture, and  medals  have  long  since  been  forgotten.  In  many 
ways  England  has  recognized  her  great  obligations  to  the  man 
who  worked  so  lovingly  and  effectively  for  the  good  of  his 
countrymen. 

Disraeli,  in  his  u  Curiosities  of  Literature,"  fittingly  says  : 
"  Had  Evelyn  only  composed  the  great  work  of  his  Sylva,  his 
name  would  have  excited  the  gratitude  of  posterity.  The 
voice  of  the  patriot  exults  in  the  dedication  to  Charles  II,  pre- 
fixed to  one  of  the  later  editions,  in  which  he  says :  c  I  need 
not  acquaint  your  Majesty  how  many  millions  of  timber  trees, 
besides  infinite  others,  have  been  planted  throughout  your  vast 
dominions  at  the  instigation  of  this  work,  because  your  Majesty 
has  been  pleased  to  own  it  publicly  for  my  encouragement.' 
Surely,  while  Britain  retains  her  situation  among  the  nations 
of  Europe,  the  Sylva  of  Evelyn  will  endure  with  her  triumph- 
ant oaks.  It  was  a  retired  philosopher  who  aroused  the  genius 
of  the  nation,  and  who,  casting  a  prophetic  eye  towards  the 


29 

age  in  which  we  live,  contributed  to  secure  our  sovereignty  of 
the  seas.  The  present  navy  of  Great  Britain  has  been  con- 
structed with  the  oaks  which  the  genius  of  John  Evelyn 
planted." 

13.  The  economic  bearings  of  this  subject  claim  attention. 
The  money  wisely  expended  for  the  adornment  and  improve- 
ment of  a  town  is  a  good  investment.  It  pays  in  many  ways. 
Such  improvements  help  to  retain  in  a  town  its  wealthy  and 
public-spirited  citizens,  whom  a  narrow  and  unprogressive  pol- 
icy would  repel.  Dr.  Bodwell,  who  was  long  a  resident  in 
England,  took  a  deep  interest  in  this  subject,  when  professor  in 
the  Theological  Seminary  of  Hartford,  and  after  journeying 
widely  through  Connecticut,  said,  "This  village  improvement 
all  over  our  State  is  of  great  promise  in  a  variety  of  ways. 
One  most  valuable  result  will  be  that  a  larger  proportion  of 
the  enterprising  young  men  will  stay  at  home  and  cultivate 
the  farms  and  make  it  a  good  thing  too,  with  their  intelligence 
and  improved  methods,  and  then  the  maidens  will  stay  of 
course,  and  weddings  will  multiply,  and  the  old  homes  will 
again  be  full  of  rosy  children  as  in  'the  ages  past,'  and  the 
commonwealth  will  make  a  new  and  noble  start  in  the  career 
of  riches  and  honor.  In  traveling  over  the  State,  one  is  con- 
stantly greeted  with  new  surprises  in  the  discovery  of  charm- 
ing landscape  pictures,  with  the  finest  possible  sights  for  delight- 
ful residences;  such  as  merchant  princes  might  envy.  Eng- 
land in  its  natural  features  is  not  comparable  to  Connecticut  in 
wide  variety  of  the  picturesque  and  romantic.  How  exceed- 
ingly beautiful  our  little  Commonwealth  is  destined  to  become 
at  a  future  day,  by  the  culture  which  is  every  day  extending 
under  the  lead  of  village  improvement  associations,  and  in  the 
erection  of  elegant  country  seats,  is  a  thought  continually  sug- 
gested." 

In  the  history  of  our  towns  public  improvements  and  growth 
often  stand  related  as  cause  and  effect.  Immigration  from 
New  York  is  one  source  of  the  increase  of  these  towns.  Since 
the  solution  of  the  long-vexed  problem  of  rapid  transit  by  the 
elevated  railroads,  Connecticut  has  the  opportunity  of  inviting 
or  repelling  desirable  residents  in  greatly  increasing  numbers. 
Growing  rapidly  as  New  York  now  is,  where  shall  its  swelling 


30 

throngs  of  business  men  find  their  homes  ?  A  liberal  spirit 
will  invite  wealth  and  population  in  still  larger  measure  to  our 
borders.  The  new  comers  from  New  York  city  to  the  shore 
line  and  other  progressive  towns  are  the  friends  of  public 
improvements,  because  these  are  investments  which  ultimately 
enrich  a  community.  A  penurious  policy  is  penny-wise  and 
pound-foolish.  It  defeats  its  own  aim  of  saving,  and  results  in 
final  deterioration  and  loss.  Men  of  affluence  and  culture 
shun  a  narrow-minded  and  illiberal  community.  A  good  name 
tends  to  enrich  a  town  as  well  as  an  individual,  while  a  bad 
one  may  impoverish  both. 

14.  There  is  no  rural  improvement  more  practical  and  valuable 
than  the  recovery  of  once  fertile  lands  now  lost  to  tillage.  The 
waste  lands  of  New  England  and  the  Atlantic  states  are  already 
very  extensive.  They  consist  of,  first,  exhausted  pasture  land 
once  arable,  second,  rough,  rocky  hills  and  hill-sides,  formerly 
good  grazing  ground,  but  now  so  overrun  with  hard-hack  or 
other  useless  bushes  as  to  be  worthless  for  pasturage,  third, 
swamps,  marshes,  moors  and  bogs,  and  fourth,  sand-barrens. 
Except  the  third  class  here  named,  nearly  all  these  lands  have 
been  made  barren  by  our  improvidence  and  carelessness.  My 
special  aim  has  been  to  encourage  the  recuperation  of  such 
lands  by  tree  planting. 

For  the  reclamation  of  our  pastures  and  waste  lands  aban- 
doned to  hard-hack,  sumac,  and  other  worthless  brush,  the 
European  larch  deserves  to  become  a  favorite.  A  native  of 
the  Alps,  Apennines,  of  the  Tyrol  and  Carpathian  Mountains,  it 
is  a  very  hardy  tree,  and  at  home  in  a  variety  of  well-drained 
soils,  especially  on  rough,  rocky,  or  gravelly  ground,  and  the 
most  rugged  ravines.  There  are  in  our  State  large  tracts  of 
bleak  hill-sides  and  mountain  declivities  or  summits  exhausted 
and  now  practically  worthless,  where  the  larch,  thickly  planted, 
would  soon  choke  out  all  brush,  and  weeds.  As  an  orna- 
mental tree  it  grows  finely  even  in  deep  and  rich  loam,  but  its 
extraordinary  qualities  for  timber  may  be  impaired  when  grown 
on  the  rich  prairies  of  the  West  or  the  best  lands  of  the  East. 
When  raised  under  right  conditions,  it  combines  the  two  qual- 
ities of  rapidity  of  growth  and  durability  of  wood  more  than 
any  other  tree.  More  than  two  thousand  years  ago  this  wood 


31 

was  in  high  favor  with  the  Eomans  for  the  building  of^ships 
and  bridges.  Julius  Cassar  spoke  strongly  of  its  strength  and 
durability. 

I  heard  a  lumber-man  in  Yenice  say  that  its  durability  was 
amply  attested  there,  as  most  of  the  houses  of  the  city  are  built 
upon  larch  piles,  many  of  which,  though  in  use  for  centuries, 
show  no  signs  of  decay.  In  a  large  Doge's  palace,  BOW  used 
as  a  hotel,  he  showed  me  some  very  ancient  larch  window- 
casings  which  are  still  sound.  For  gondola  posts  in  the  canals 
adjoining  the  houses  the  larch  is  preferred.  In  wharves  and 
many  other  positions  in  England,  where  there  is  an  alternation 
of  wet  and  dry  with  the  tide,  the  larch  has  stood  this  most  try- 
ing test  far  better  than  oak.  In  England  it  is  regarded  as  the 
best  timber  for  railway  ties.  Monville  says :  "  In  Switzerland, 
the  larch,  as  the  most  durable  of  woods,  is  preferred  for  shin- 
gles, fences,  and  vine-props.  These  vine-props  remain  fixed 
for  years,  and  see  crop  after  crop  of  vines  bear  their  fruit  and 
perish  without  showing  any  symptoms  of  decay.  Props  of  sil- 
ver fir  would  not  last  more  than  ten  years."  Evelyn  says: 
"  It  makes  everlasting  spouts  and  pent-houses,  which  need 
neither  pitch  nor  painting  to  preserve  them."  Michie  affirms 
that  "  For  out-door  work  it  is  the  most  durable  of  all  descrip- 
tions of  wood.  I  have  known  larch  posts  that  have  stood  for 
nearly  fifty  years."  Professor  Sargent  expresses  the  opinion 
that  "  For  posts  it  will  equal  in  durability  our  red  cedar,  while 
in  the  power  to  hold  nails  it  is  greatly  its  superior."  The  chest- 
nut railway  sleeper,  secreting  an  acid  which  corrodes  iron,  loses 
its  power  to  hold  the  spikes  in  about  seven  years,  though  the 
tie  itself  may  not  so  soon  seriously  rot.  The  larch,  while -it 
holds  iron  as  firmly  as  oak,  unlike  the  latter,  does  not  corrode 
iron. 

The  president  of  the  Illinois  Central  Kailway,  having  exam- 
ined the  vast  planted  forests  of  larch  in  Europe  and  learned  its 
remarkable  fitness  for  railway  ties,  offers  to  transport  the  young 
plants  free  of  charge  to  any  point  on  their  lines  or  leased  lines, 
provided  they  are  to  be  planted  in  the  vicinity  of  the  same. 
It  is,  however,  an  experiment  which  time  alone  can  determine, 
whether  the  larch  will  retain  its  durability  when  planted  in 
the  level,  deep,  vegetable  mould  of  the  prairies,  with  their 


82 

retentive  sub-soil.  That  it  will  grow  there  rapidly  and  luxu- 
riantly is  amply  proved,  but  its  history  for  many  centuries 
shows  that  elevated  lands  suit  it  better  than  low  grounds,  and 
side-hills  and  mountain  slopes  better  than  flats.  In  the  rich 
river  flats  of  Kew  Gardens  and  in  the  vicinity  of  London  the 
larch  does  not  thrive.  The  specimens  found  in  that  remarka- 
ble collection  of  all  known  trees  are  puny.  The  Kew  arborist 
informed  me  that  in  the  two  hundred  and  seventy  acres  appro- 
priated to  the  arboretum,  no  spot  had  been  found  suited  to  the 
larch. 

No  other  tree  has  been  planted  so  extensively  in  Scotland. 
It  attains  maturity  long  before  the  oak,  and  serves  well  for 
nearly  all  purposes  for  which  oak  is  used.  Larch  trees  thirty 
years  old  are  sometimes  sold  for  fifteen  dollars  each,  while  oaks 
of  the  same  age  are  not  worth  three  dollars  each.  As  the 
larch  grows  erect,  with  short  and  slender  laterals,  it  may  be 
planted  much  thicker  than  the  oak.  According  to  Loudon, 
ten  acres  of  larch  will  furnish  as  much  ship  timber  as  seventy- 
five  acres  of  oak.  Its  large  timber  yield  per  acre  is  one  source 
of  its  popularity  in  Britain.  It  was  first  planted  on  the  estate  of 
the  Duke  of  Athole,  in  1741.  Some  stately  specimens  nearly 
one  hundred  and  -forty  years  old  may  be  seen  near  the  cathe- 
dral at  Dunkeld.  Mr.  McGregor,  the  duke's  forester,  informed 
me  that  on  this  one  estate  have  been  planted  over  twenty- 
seven  millions  of  larch  trees,  covering  over  sixteen  thousand 
acres,  some  of  which  was  formerly  worth  only  from  one  to  two 
shillings  per  acre.  Dr.  James  Brown  says  he  has  seen  matured 
crops  of  larch  of  sixty-five  years'  standing  sold  for  from  $750 
to.  $2,000  per  acre,  when  the  land  was  originally  worth  only 
from  $2  to  $4  per  acre. 

The  reclamation  of  marshes  by  drainage,  both  surface  and 
subsoil,  has  been  carried  on  for  so  long  a  period  and  on  so 
broad  a  scale  and  with  such  grand  results  as  to  need  no  de- 
tailed discussion  here.  England,  Ireland  and  Holland,  to 
name  no  other  countries  of  Europe,  contain  millions  of  acres 
of  such  land,  now  reclaimed  and  exceedingly  fertile.  Even 
lakes  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles  in  length  have  been  drained. 
In  1848  was  completed  the  draining  of  the  Lake  of  Haarlem 
in  Holland.  The  lands  thus  recovered  have  since  been  sold 


33 

by  the  Government  for  nearly  $3,500,000,  or  about  $80  per 
acre.  The  success  of  this  grand  experiment  has  prompted 
others,  like  the  draining  of  the  Zuid  Plas — a  lake  covering 
nearly  12,000  acres,  and  the  great  work  now  progressing  to 
drain  an  arm  of  the  Sheld,  which  will  recover  some  35,000 
acres.  Encouraged  by  the  results  of  these  enterprises,  the 
Netherlandish  engineers  now  advocate  the  stupendous  project 
of  draining  the  great  salt  water  basin  of  the  Zuiderzee — an 
inland  sea  which  covers  1,300,000  acres.  The  Italians  have 
nearly  completed  the  work  of  enlarging  and  deepening  the 
tunnel  cut  by  the  Emperor  Claudius  1800  years  ago,  to  drain 
Lake  Celano.  30,000  workmen  were  employed  on  this  sub- 
tearanean  passage  for  eleven  years.  Though  this  remarkable 
undertaking — the  wonder  of  that  age — was  successful,  in  the 
following  reign  it  fell  into  disrepair  and  continued  to  be  neg- 
lected for  centuries.  It  is  one  of  many  proofs  of  the  revived 
energy  and  enterprise  of  the  present  generation,  rivaling  their 
historic  ancestors,  that  they  have  restored  and  surpassed  this 
old  Eoman  work.  This  new  tunnel,  more  than  four  miles  in 
length  and  costing  over  six  millions  of  dollars,  will  ultimately 
recover  for  agricultural  occupation  forty-two  thousand  acres  of 
most  fertile  land.  Already  some  36,000  acres  of  rich  arable 
land  have  been  reclaimed,  on  which  the  crops  yield  a  profit  of 
from  thirty  to  thirty-six  per  cent. 

While  it  is  interesting  to  know  the  extent  and  success  of 
lake  drainage  in  the  old  world,  in  our  country  with  millions  of 
acres  of  virgin  soil,  such  expenditures  would  be  unwise.  But 
in  New  England  and  the  Atlantic  States  there  are  large  tracts 
of  bogs  and  swamps  that  may  be  easily  and  economically 
reclaimed  by  drainage.  The  hygienic  advantages  of  stopping 
malarious  exhalations  from  stagnant  pools  would  be  clear  gain. 
This  practice  has  been  common  in  Europe  for  a  long  period. 
When  the  works  now  in  progress  in  Hungary  are  completed, 
that  country  will  have  over  a  million  acres  of  swamp  land 
drained  and  brought  under  cultivation.  Many  thousand  acres 
have  thus  been  recently  improved  in  Italy  and  similar  works 
are  now  progressing  in  France  and  elsewhere  in  Europe.  Much 
has  lately  been  done  in  the  same  direction  on  our  New  Jersey 
sea  coast,  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  and  somewhat  in 


34 

the  New  England  States.  Several  successful  experiments  in 
swamp-drainage  and  securing  land  from  overflow  have  been 
tried  in  California,  thus  already  improving  some  200,000  acres 
of  land  on  our  Pacific  coast.  The  diking  in  and  reclaiming  the 
salt  marshes  along  the  seashore  is  worthy  of  increased  attention. 
In  Marshfield,  Massachusetts,  over  1400  acres  of  salt  marsh 
have  been  already  greatly  improved  by  shutting  off  the  tides 
of  the  ocean,  at  a  cost  of  over  $30,000.  If  the  success  expected 
attends  this  experiment,  it  will  deserve  to  be  repeated  on  a 
broad  scale  along  our  seashore.  The  improvement  of  moors 
and  wet  lands  by  spreading  layers  of  sand  is  too  familiar  to 
need  description.  Tile  drainage,  though  but  recently  intro- 
duced in  this  country,  is  rapidly  growing  in  favor.  Though 
more  expensive  than  surface  drainage,  it  produces  far  better 
results.  In  this  way  large  tracts  of  wet  land  have  been 
recently  improved,  especially  in  the  Western  States.  The 
statistics  from  a  single  State  will  indicate  the  general  progress 
in  this  direction.  In  1876  less  than  five  million  feet  of  tiles 
were  sold  in  Illinois :  in  1877  over  fourteen  million  feet  were 
sold. 

The  extent  of  soil  depletion  in  many  of  the  Southern 
States,  according  to  Dr.  Tichenor  of  Alabama,  is  "  painful 
and  humiliating.  The  fields  of  Middle  Georgia  were  once 
the  richest  cotton  lands  of  the  South.  After  wearing  them 
out,  the  planters  went  to  Alabama,  and  there  repeated  the 
same  process  of  exhaustion.  Now  the  line  of  greatest  pro- 
ductionlhas  receded  from  the  seaboard  to  Texas.  Those  who 
thus'carelessly  strip  the  soil  of  its  wealth  are  traitors  to  those 
who  come  after  them.  This  ignorant  plundering  of  the  soil  is 
an  evil  which  threatens  our  national  stability.  One  cause  of 
the  Jong  continued  fertility  of  China  and  Japan  is  the  care 
with  which  every  element  of  the  soil  is  husbanded." 

The  practicability  and  even  the  possibility  of  reclaiming  the 
sand-barrens  of  the  Atlantic  States  is  so  generally  doubted, 
that  it  is  needful  to  show  what  has  been  done  in  this  direction 
under  conditions  the  most  unfavorable  and  where  it  was  confi- 
dently predicted  nothing  could  be  made  to  grow.  The  feasi- 
bility of  reclaiming  our  barren  wastes,  is  proved  by  many  facts 
abroad  and  at  home.  Our  Atlantic  sand  plains  were  once  cov- 


35 

ered  with  forests.  The  now  bare,  white  sand  hills  of  Province- 
town  were  described  by  the  Pilgrims,  on  their  landing  there, 
as  well-wooded.  The  sand  hills  on  the  coast  of  Prussia  were 
formerly  wooded,  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and  "it  was  only 
in  the  last  century,  says  Geo.  P.  Marsh,  "  that  in  consequence 
of  the  destruction  of  their  forests,  they  became  moving  sands. 
King  Frederick  William  I.  when  in  pressing  need  of  money, 
sold  the  forests  of  the  Freische  Nehrung  for  200,000  thalers, 
and  the  trees  were  all  felled.  Financially  the  operation  was  a 
temporary  success,  but  in  the  lasting  material  effects,  the  State 
received  irreparable  injury  and  would  now  gladly  expend  mil- 
lions to  restore  the  forests  again.  The  dunes  of  the  Nether- 
lands were  clothed  with  trees  until  after  the  Eoman  invasion. 
The  old  geographers  speak  of  vast  forests  extending  here  to 
the  very  brink  of  the  sea,  and  the  drifting  coast  dunes  have 
assumed  a  destructive  character  in  consequence  of  the  improvi- 
dence of  man.  The  history  of  the  dunes  of  Michigan  is  the 
same.  Forty  years  ago,  when  that  region  was  scarcely  inhabi- 
ted, they  were  generally  covered  with  a  thick  growth  of  trees, 
and  there  was  little  appearance  of  undermining  and  wash  on 
the  land  side,  or  of  shifting  of  the  sands,  except  where  the 
trees  had  been  cut  or  turned  up  by  the  roots." 

The  sand  dunes  of  Denmark  cover  over  160,000  acres — 
those  of  Prussia  110,000 — those  of  the  single  province  of  Gas- 
cony  in  France  over  200,000,  and  in  all  Europe  the  drifting 
sands,  according  to  Pannewitz,  cover  7,000,000  acres.  Says 
Marsh  :  "  There  is  no  question  that  most  of  this  waste  is  capa- 
ble of  reclamation  by  simple  tree  planting,  and  no  mode  of 
physical  improvement  is  better  worth  the  attention  of  civilized 
governments  than  this.  There  are  often  serious  objections  to 
extensive  forest  planting  on  soils  capable  of  being  otherwise 
made  productive,  but  they  do  not  apply  to  sand  wastes  which, 
until  they  are  covered  by  woods,  are  not  only  a  useless  incum- 
brance,  but  a  source  of  serious  danger  to  all  human  improve- 
ments in  the  neighborhood  of  them." 

This  is  a  subject  of  practical  .interest  to  us  because  we  have 
along  the  Atlantic  coast  as  at  Cape  Cod,  in  Connecticut,  at  some 
points  in  New  Jersey,  and  other  Atlantic  States,  on  the  shores  of 
Florida,  on  the  Gulf  Coast,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Mich- 


36 

igan  and  elsewhere,  long  tracts  of  drifting  sand  that  have  done 
serious  local  damage.  To  stop  this  extension,  considerable 
expenditures  have  already  been  made  in  several  States  to  cover 
their  surface  with  a  vegetable  growth. 

But  this  reclamation  of  barrens  and  sand  dunes  has  been 
carried  on  most  extensively  and  successfully  in  France.  These 
sand  hills  or  dunes  as  they  are  called,  stretched  over  a  hundred 
miles  along  the  coast  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  between  the  rivers 
Adour  and  Gironde.  Banging  from  180  to  320  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  they  are  composed  of  white  silicious 
sand  rounded  and  reduced  to  minute  grains  by  trituration. 
These  grains  are  still  too  heavy  to  be  borne  aloft  by  the  winds 
and  scattered  afar  like  the  ashes  of  volcanoes.  On  the  Atlantic 
shore  of  France,  the  prevailing  and  most  violent  winds  are  from 
the  west  and  southwest.  Hence  at  low  tide,  the  sands  dried  by 
the  sun  and  the  wind  were  driven  as  along  an  inclined  plane 
up  the  slopes  which  descend  seaward  and  thus  formed  these 
growing  dunes,  which  moving  inland  created  great  desolation. 

Nearly  a  century  ago  Bremontier  published  a  memoir  on  the 
reclamation  of  sand  dunes.  Under  the  patronage  of  the  French 
Government,  he  successfully  introduced  the  planting  of  the 
maritime  pine  along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Gascony.  These 
plantations  have  been  perseveringly  continued  from  that  time 
to  the  present,  and  now  cover  over  100,000  acres  in  that  single 
district.  Not  only  has  this  wide  area  been  reclaimed  and  made 
productive  soil,  but  a  still  greater  extent  of  fertile  land  has 
been  rescued  from  the  destruction  threatened  by  the  advancing 
sand  hills.  In  speaking  of  the  monument  erected  to  Bremontier 
in  this  now  stately  forest,  Marsh  says :  "  He  deserves  to  be 
reckoned  among  the  greatest  benefactors  of  the  race." 

In  planting  the  dunes,  a  barrier  along  the  shore  was  found 
necessary  at  first  to  protect  the  young  trees  from  the  rolling 
sands  which  otherwise  would  bury  them.  A  double  line  of 
paling  was  erected  parallel  to  the  shore  and  a  hundred  meters 
from  high  water  mark — the  second  line  being  a  hundred  meters 
further  inland.  This  paling  is  made  of  planks  sharpened  at 
the  lower  end  and  driven  into  the  sand.  Spaces  of  an  inch 
between  the  planks  allow  sand  enough  to  pass  through  to  bank 
up  equally  on  both  sides  and  relieve  somewhat  the  force  of  the 


37 

wind  by  allowing  it  to  pass  through  these  openings.  As  the 
paling  is  covered  by  the  sands  the  planks  are  raised  one  at  a 
time.  A  movable  frame  with  a  long  lever  mounted  on  run- 
ners, so  that  it  can  be  slid  along  the  top  of  the  fence,  and 
having  pinchers  or  a  clamp  and  chain,  is  easily  carried  and 
operated  by  one  man. 

The  total  cost  of  planting  and  protecting  the  pines  has  some- 
times been  as  much  as  $40  per  acre.  The  timber  of  this  plan- 
tation has  long  been  a  source  of  profit,  affording  both  resin  and 
wood.  France  now  draws  an  annual  revenue  of  130,000  francs 
from  the  resinous  products  of  these  forests.  But  in  this  case 
the  greater  profit  comes  from  the  consequent  protection  of  the 
adjoining  country  from  the  encroaching  sands,  which  had  for- 
merly sterilized  fertile  regions  and  buried  thriving  villages. 
M.  Samanos  says  that  "  in  all  France  nearly  one  million  acres 
(400,000  hectares)  of  desolate  land,  supposed  to  be  doomed  to 
everlasting  sterility,  have  been  reclaimed,  and  these  savage  des- 
erts are  now  stocked  with  maritime  pines  which  will  become 
for  the  country  a  fruitful  source  of  wealth,  and  supply  some 
day  the  wants  of  the  whole  of  France." 

A  liberal  appropriation  is  now  made  annually  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  work.  The  whole  extent  of  dunes  in  France 
that  remains  to  be  planted  is  nearly  80,000  hectares,  or  about 
200,000  acres.  A  small  subsidy  is  given  by  the  State  to  those 
who  own  and  plant  them,  but  most  of  this  land  belongs  to  the 
State  and  is  managed  entirely  by  the  Forest  department. 

These  successful  experiments,  conducted  on  so  broad  a  scale 
and  for  so  long  a  period,  clearly  prove  the  practicability  of 
arresting  and  utilizing  sand  drifts  by  the  plantation  of  trees. 
What  has  been  done  abroad  on  the  most  unpromising  beach 
sands  may  surely  be  accomplished  under  the  more  favorable 
conditions  of  our  Atlantic  barrens,  not  necessarily  by  planting 
the  same  trees  or  by  the  same  methods,  but  by  those  plans 
which  a  study  of  the  local  climate  and  conditions  in  each  case 
will  suggest.  The  young  plants  in  France  have  been  sheltered 
at  the  outset  by  sowing  with  the  pine  seeds  certain  hardy 
weeds,  herbs  and  grasses  like  the  yellow  lupin,  which  gave  a 
temporary  shade  and  protection,  and  by  their  decay  helped 
somewhat  to  enrich  the  soil.  Some  arborists  affirm  that  oats 


38 

or  rye,  or  our  blue  lupin  which  thrives  in  dry  soil,  will  serve 
the  same  purpose  on  our  barrens.  I  have  not  space  to  detail 
the  kindred  methods  of  recuperating  sand  barrens  in  other 
countries  of  Europe. 

I  can  only  name  a  few  illustrations  of  the  extent  of  this 
work.  Hummel  attributes  the  devastation  of  the  Karst,  the 
high  plateau  lying  north  of  Trieste — until  recently  one  of  the 
most  parched  and  barren  wastes  in  Europe — to  the  felling  of 
its  woods,  centuries  ago,  to  build  the  navies  of  Venice.  The 
Austrian  government  is  now  making  energetic  and  thus  far 
successful  efforts  for  the  reclamation  of  this  desolate  waste, 
having  planted  over  half  a  million  of  young  trees  and  sown 
great  quantities  of  seed.  In  the  vicinity  of  Antwerp  less  than 
fifty  years  ago  was  a  vast  desolate  plan.  Looking  to-day  in 
the  same  direction  from  the  spire  of  the  cathedral,  one  can  see 
nothing  but  a  forest,  whose  limits  seem  lost  in  the  horizon. 
Forest  plantations  have  transformed  these  barren  lands  into 
fertile  fields.  On  the  Adriatic,  Baltic,  Mediterranean  as  well 
as  the  Biscayan  coasts  the  disastrous  encroachments  of  the  sea 
have  been  checked  by  forest  plantations.  Extensive  plains, 
once  barren  sands  south  of  Berlin,  about  Odessa  and  north  of 
the  Black  Sea  and  vast  steppes  in  Russia,  are  now  well  wooded. 
R.  Douglass  &  Sons,  of  Waukegan,  Illinois,  who  have  been  the 
pioneers  in  promoting  economic  tree-planting  in  the  West, 
began  four  years  ago  the  experiment  of  reclaiming  barren  sand 
ridges  near  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  trying  pitch  pine, 
white  pine,  Austrian  pine  and  Scotch  pine.  Here,  as  on  Cape 
Cod,  the  Scotch  pine  proved  the  best  for  reclaiming  sandy 
barrens.  With  these  facts  from  abroad  and  at  home  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  even  the  poorest  soils  of  the  Atlantic  States 
may  be  reclaimed. 

All  sand  wastes  are  by  no  means  alike.  Trees  which  will 
grow  luxuriantly  on  one  will  pine  away  and  die  on  another. 
The  climate,  too,  varies,  as  well  as  the  soil.  The  soil  of  Cape 
Cod  and  Nantucket  is  well  fitted  for  the  maritime  pine,  where 
it  has  been  amply  tried.  It  grows  well  for  a  season  or  two, 
but  is  sure  to  winter-kill  in  a  few  years.  It  suffers  from  the 
severity  of  the  winter  in  Holland  and  Germany.  Sea  spray 
and  saline  constituents  in  the  soil  or  air  are  fatal  to  some  trees 


39 

and  favorable  to  others.  A  knowledge  of  the  natural  growths 
of  each  vicinity  will  favor  adaptation  to  local  conditions. 

Though  dry  at  the  top,  sand  dunes  and  most  sand  plains 
and  hillocks  are  moist  a  little  below  the  surface,  by  reason  of 
evaporization  from  the  lower  strata,  retention  of  rain  water 
and  capillary  attraction.  The  latter  cause  depends  upon  the 
size  of  the  grain  of  sand.  The  finer  the  grain  the  greater  is  its 
capacity  for  receiving  moisture  and  the  longer  is  the  moisture 
retained. 

As  this  scheme  of  recuperating  sand  wastes  will  be  regarded 
as  chimerical  by  many  who  have  not  investigated  the  subject,  I 
will  cite  facts  found  near  home.  Having  made  a  trip  on  Cape 
Cod,  expressly  to  inspect  their  reclaimed  lands  and  confer  with 
the  intelligent  tree  planters  there,  who  are  the  American  pioneers 
in  this  work,  I  will  summarize  briefly  the  information  gained 
from  them.  The  amount  of  land  planted  with  trees  in  Barnstable 
county  is  about  10,000  acres.  Before  the  trees  were  planted 
these  well-nigh  worthless  lands  could  be  purchased  at  from  25 
to  50  cents  per  acre.  I  was  interested  in  the  plantations  of 
John  Doane,  of  Orleans,  the  oldest  living  silviculturist  in 
America  (now  89  years  of  age),  who  has  planted  170  acres. 
He  has  sold  planted  lands  for  $14  per  acre,  not  worth  over  50 
cents  before  planting,  which  he  considers  a  good  investment. 
But  the  best  pay  has  been  his  enjoyment  of  this  work,  so 
manifestly  growing  with  the  growth  of  these  trees.  The 
forests  he  has  created  have  long  been  to  him  a  source  of  pride 
and  satisfaction,  greatly  improving  the  surroundings  of  his 
place,  and  thus  helping  to  brighten  and  prolo'ng  his  years. 
John  Ken  rick,  of  South  Orleans  said:  "My  experiments  in 
tree-planting  have  been  made  on  over  a  hundred  acres  now 
covered  with  trees  from  one  to  thirty-five  years  old,  chiefly 
pitch  pine.  I  am  now  trying  Scotch  and  Corsican  pine  and 
European  larch.  My  first  aim  has  been  to  cover  my  worn  out 
lands  with  beauty  and  verdure,  and  it  has  proved  a  successful 
and  economic  experiment.  The  seed  of  the  pitch  pine  is  worth 
from  one  to  two  dollars  a  pound,  the  higher  price  being  in  the 
end  the  cheapest.  Fresh  seeds  carefully  gathered  are  as  sure  to 
vegetate  as  corn.  I  have  tried  every  method  of  tree-planting, 
transplanting  trees  from  the  smallest  to  those  that  are  two  feet 


40 

high.  This  is  a  costly  plan,  but  may  be  adopted  when  one 
wishes  to  save  time,  or  desires  a  few  trees  as  a  wind-break  or 
otherwise.  In  transplanting  trees  immediately  from  my  own 
nursery  to  the  fields,  my  favorite  time  is  just  as  the  bads  begin 
to  start  in  the  spring.  I  have  planted  seeds  both  with  a  plan- 
ter and  by  hand.  On  our  light  sands  a  man  and  a  boy  will 
plant  three  acres  in  a  day — dropping  six  seeds  in  a  hill,  it  will 
take  about  one-half  a  pound  of  seed  to  the  acre.  This  is  rny 
favorite  method  and  is  more  satisfactory  in  results  though 
more  costly  than  that  of  using  the  plough  and  planter.  When 
the  evergreens  are  two  feet  high  I  would  thin  them,  leaving 
one  thrifty  plant  in  each  hill.  I  do  not  trim  till  they  get  large 
and  then  cut  off  only  the  dead  branches." 

Tully  Crosby,  of  Brewster,  said  :  "  In  our  small  town  about 
1500  acres  of  old  waste  land  have  been  planted  with  pitch 
pine.  The  Norway  pine  has  not  proved  a  success  with  us. 
Many  old  fields  bought  for  fifty  cents  per  acre  and  planted 
with  pine  twenty-five  years  ago,  are  now  worth  from  $10  to 
$20  per  acre.  The  pines  grow  well  for  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years  and  when  cut  off  a  second  crop  springs  up  immediately 
and  this  crop  does  better  than  the  first.  The  pitch  pine  takes 
root  and  grows  on  our  barren  beach  sand  where  no  soil  is  per- 
ceptible. Our  people  are  now  planting  trees  every  year.  I 
have  recently  planted  twelve  acres.  Two  years  ago  I  cut  off  a 
lot  planted  thirty  years  since  and  the  land  is  now  full  of  young 
pines  scattered  by  the  first  growth.  A  man  with  a  two-horse 
team  and  planting  machine  can  plant  ten  acres  in  a  day  and 
three  pounds  of  seed  will  do  the  whole." 

E.  Higgins,  of  Eastham,  said :  "  Thirty  years  ago  twenty 
acres  of  condemned  tillage  land,  worth  one  dollar  per  acre,  was 
planted  with  pitch  pine.  The  present  value  of  this  land  is  $15 
per  acre.  In  1870,  225  acres  more  of  the  same  sort  of  land 
was  thus  planted,  the  present  value  of  which  is  $8  per  acre. 
About  150  acres  of  sandy  land,  utterly  barren  and  not  worth 
fifty  cents  to  the  acre  have  been  planted,  the  present  value  of 
which  is  $7  per  acre."  John  G.  Thompson,  of  North  Truxo, 
says  :  "  About  650  acres  have  been  planted  in  this  town.  The 
price  of  pitch  pine  seed  for  the  last  few  years  has  been  $1.50 
per  pound.  Thirty  years  ago  land  in  this  town  could  be 


41 

bought  for  tree  planting  at  twenty-five  cents  per  acre ;  now 
the  same  kind  of  barren  land  sells  for  $2  per  acre  for  tree- 
planting.  I  find  the  expense  of  planting  the  pines  to  be  $2.25 
per  acre." 

S.  P.  Phinney,  of  Barnstable,  said  :  "  Large  tracts  of  worn- 
out  lands  in  this  country,  that  were  worth  comparatively 
nothing,  have  been  planted  from  the  seed  of  the  pitch  pine. 
These  experiments  have  proved  successful.  I  know  of  no  way 
in  which  the  light  sandy  lands  in  this  section  can  be  made  so 
valuable  as  by  planting  the  pitch  pine.  Our  experience  proves 
that  the  cultivation  of  forest  trees  is  feasible  and  profitable  in 
New  England  seaport  towns.  In  1845  I  planted  in  this  town 
a  ten  acre  lot  with  pitch  pine  seed,  much  as  corn  is  planted, 
dropping  three  seeds  in  a  hill  and  covering  them  with  half  an 
inch  of  soil.  To-day  many  of  these  trees  will  gird  more  than 
a  man's  body.  Hundreds  of  acres  in  this  section  are  being 
planted  annually." 

We  have  a  great  Sahara  in  Connecticut  less  than  ten  miles 
from  New  Haven,  produced  by  improvidence  and  neglect. 
The  local  traditions  tell  us  that  the  sand-blow  covering  so 
large  an  area  in  the  towns  of  North  Haven  and  Wallingford 
was  once  finely  wooded.  Here  and  there  clumps  of  low  pines 
and  birches,  the  lone  relics  of  a  former  growth,  still  resist  the 
drifting  sands.  So  general  is  the  conviction,  that  this  sand- 
blow  is  utterly  irreclaimable,  that  it  has  long  since  been  aban- 
doned to  hopeless  sterility.  I  shall  be  happily  disappointed 
if  my  plan  for  utilizing  it  is  not  regarded  by  many  farmers  as 
visionary  and  impracticable.  But  the  feasibility  of  reclaiming 
such  wastes  is  proved  by  many  facts.  The  cost  of  reclaiming 
the  sand  barrens  on  Cape  Cod  has  been  small — from  three  to 
five  dollars  per  acre,  but  the  profit  has  been  satisfactory  to  the 
planters.  The  best  time  for  planting  the  pine  seeds  is  as  early 
in  the  spring  as  the  frost  permits.  The  work  is  done  by  hand 
or  by  a  seed-planter,  and  in  rows  about  as  thick  as  corn  is 
ordinarily  planted.  On  the  Cape  Cod  barrens  there  was  no 
vegetation,  except  a  little  moss,  low  poverty  grass,  so-called, 
and  in  some  cases  light  beach  grass. 

Experiments  are  now  in  progress  to  fix  the  dunes  or  sand 
hills  which  threaten  the  Suez  Canal  by  planting  the  maritime 


42 

pine  and  other  trees.  I  visited  the  celebrated  forest  of  Fon- 
tainbleau  in  France,  which  covers  an  area  of  sixty-four  square 
miles.  The  soil  of  this  wide  tract  is  composed  entirely  of 
sand  and  apparently  as  dry  as  the  sand  plains  of  Wallingford, 
Conn.  Jules  Clare,  a  student  of  forest  science  of  world-wide 
fame,  says,  "  the  sand  here  forms  ninety-eight  per  cent,  of  the 
earth,  and  it  is  almost  without  water;  it  would  be  a  drifting 
desert  but  for  the  trees  growing  and  artificially  propagated 
upon  it.'1 

What  has  been  done  with  signal  success  at  Fontainbleau 
in  Gascony  and  many  other  provinces  of  France,  as  well  as  in 
other  European  countries  and  on  Cape  Cod,  shows  the  practi- 
cability of  reclaiming  the  worst  deserts  that  can  be  found  in 
our  Atlantic  States.  Many  other  facts  might  be  cited  were  it 
necessary,  both  from  home  and  foreign  fields,  to  prove  the 
feasibility  of  this  plan  of  reclaiming  sterile  lands.  If  one  is  to 
be  commended  who  makes  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  but 
one  grew  before,  how  much  more  the  farmer  who  makes  forests 
thrive  where  nothing  now  grows. 

The  question  is  still  often  asked,  will  it  pay  the  average 
farmer  to  plant  trees  ?  Certainly  not,  if  early  profit  is  essen- 
tial. The  answer  depends  on  various  circumstances,  such  as 
the  size  of  one's  farm,  its  soil  and  situation.  But  on  an  ordi- 
nary farm  of  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  acres  arid  upwards,  I 
answer  yes.  If  you  are  looking  ahead  and  seeking  an  invest- 
ment for  future  profit,  "trees  will  make  dollars,  for  they  will 
grow  in  waste  places  where  nothing  else  can  be  profitably 
cultivated.  A  soil  too  thin  and  rough  for  cereals  may  be 
favorable  for  trees.  Hillsides  and  plains  exhausted  and  worn 
out  by  the  plow  have  often  been  reclaimed  by  planting  forests. 
Eavines  too  steep  for  cultivation  are  the  favorite  seats  of  tim- 
ber, and  wherever  a  crevice  is  found  in  a  rocky  ledge,  the  root 
of  a  tree  will  burrow  and  spread,  taking  a  hold  so  firm  as 
to  defy  the  storm,  and  acting  mechanically  disintegrate  the 
rock  and  change  its  constituent  elements  into  useful  products. 
By  the  road-side,  the  river-bank,  along  the  brook,  and  on  the 
overhanging  cliff,  a  tree  may  be  always  earning  wealth  for  its 
owners.  In  no  way  can  we  ultimately  enrich  a  State  more 
than  by  planting  the  choicest  trees  on  our  exhausted  and  un- 


43 

productive  lands.  In  such  situations,  forests  will  yield  a  large 
percentage  of  profit.  This  is  a  duty  we  owe  to  ourselves  and 
to  our  children. 

George  Peabody,  who  did  so  much  to  encourage  schools  and 
learning,  originated  the  motto,  so  happily  illustrated  by  his 
own  munificent  gifts  to  promote  education:  "Education — the 
debt  of  the  present  to  future  generations."  We  owe  it  to  our 
children  to  leave  our  lands  and  towns  the  better  for  our  tillage, 
and  we  wrong  both  ourselves  and  them  if  our  fields  are  impov- 
erished by  our  improvidence.  But  much  as  foresight  is  ad- 
mired when  its  predictions  are  realized  and  its  achievements 
made,  all  history  too  plainly  tells  that  the  mass  of  men  are  not 
easily  persuaded  to  provide  for  exigencies  far  in  the  future. 

Though  the  profit  from  tree-planting  is  remote,  the  pleasure 
is  immediate.  The  sour  and  selfish  soul  may  say,  "  Posterity 
has  done  nothing  for  me,  and  I  will  do  nothing  for  posterity." 
But  every  effort  to  start  agencies  whose  benign  influence  shall 
long  endure,  gives  a  glad  inspiration  and  a  conscious  elevation 
of  character. 

15.  The  improvement  of  the  surroundings  of  railway  stations 
may  well  enlist  the  efforts  of  these  associations.  The  railroad 
depots  in  America  are  often  made  repulsive  by  neglect  or  by 
the  accumulation  of  discarded  and  decaying  sleepers  and  other 
unsightly  rubbish,  while  those  in  Switzerland,  France,  Ger- 
many and  England  are  always  neatly  kept  and  usually  adorned 
with  shrubs,  flowers,  or  their  beautiful  English  or  German  ivy, 
sometimes  covering  the  station-house  with  its  dense  garniture 
of  foliage.  The  Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad,  at  the  stations 
west  of  Philadelphia,  is  following  this  worthy  European  exam- 
ple. The  beautiful  little  parks  at  Pornfret  and  Stonington 
depots  in  Connecticut,  and  those  at  Kingston,  Ehode  Island, 
and  at  North  Con  way  and  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  show 
how  simply  and  inexpensively  our  railroad  stations  may  be 
made  attractive.  Parks  and  gardens  are  a  proof  and  product 
of  civilization,  and  are  an  index  of  the  wealth  and  culture  of 
any  community.  In  the  European  countries  above  named,  the 
Railway  managers  make  it  a  part  of  the  regular  duty  of  the 
station-masters  to  adorn  the  surrounding  grounds.  There  is  a 
generous  rivalry  among  these  agents,  who  become  justly  proud 


44 

of  their  railway  gardening  and  sometimes  find  their  gain 
from  the  sale  of  bouquets  to  passengers.  In  striking  contrast 
with  these  adornments  is  the  slatternliness  disfiguring  our  de- 
pots, as  well  described  by  D.  Or.  Mitchell.  "  There  are  many 
charming  suburban  retreats  near  New  York  city,  to  which  the 
occupant  must  wade  his  way  through  all  manner  of  filthiness 
and  disorderly  debris,  making  his  landing  as  it  were  in  the 
very  dung- heap  of  the  place.  Is  there  no  remedy  for  this  ? 
Must  we  always  confront  the  town  with  its  worst  side  fore- 
most? To  make  a  township  attractive,  the  approach  to  it 
must  be  attractive.  Every  village  station  wants  its  little  out- 
lying Green  to  give  character  and  dignity  to  the  new  approach. 
In  nine  out  of  ten  of  way-side  towns,  such  space  could  be 
easily  secured,  easily  held  in  reserve,  easily  made  attractive  ; 
and  if  there  was  no  room  for  a  broad  expanse  of  sward,  at 
least  there  might  be  planted  some  attractive  copse  of  evergreens 
or  shrubbery,  to  declare  by  graceful  type  the  rural  pride  of  the 
place.  First  impressions  count  for  a  great  deal — whether  in 
our  meeting  with  a  woman  or  with  a  village.  Slipshoddiness 
is  bad  economy  in  towns  as  in  people.  Every  season  there  is  a 
whirl  of  citizens,  tired  of  city  heats  and  costs,  traversing  the 
country  in  half  hope  of  being  wooed  to  some  summer  home, 
where  the  trees  and  the  order  invite  tranquillity  and  promise 
enjoyment.  A  captivating  air  about  a  village  station  will 
count  for  very  much  in  the  decision." 

16.  Among  the  minor  aims  of  Eural  Improvement  Associa- 
tions, are  the  providing  of  rustic  seats  under  the  shades  for  the 
comfort  of  pedestrians,  pleasantly  suggesting  neighborly  kind- 
ness and  courtesy  ;  setting  up  watering  troughs  for  horses  at 
convenient  points  where  from  adjacent  hillsides  never  failing 
springs  invite  and  facilitate  this  improvement ;  furnishing  plans 
for  rural  architecture,  and  for  gates  and  fences,  or  securing 
hedge-rows  in  room  of  fences,  or,  better  still,  in  many  villages 
combining  to  remove  all  fences  and  visibly  dividing  lines,  so 
that  the  private  grounds  seem  to  unite  with  the  way-side  in  one 
large  lawn;  the  suggestion  of  the  neutral  tints  for  dwellings 
and  outhouses  in  place  of  the  glaring  white  hitherto  so  com- 
mon ;  arrest  of  stray  cattle,  for  strolling  cattle  usually  are  and 
always  ought  to  be  outlawed  ;  preventing  nuisances,  one  of  these 


45 

is  the  tearing  up  the  turf  fronting  a  dwelling  house  by  incon- 
siderate road-menders.  There  is  ample  room  for  the  needful 
work  of  the  scraper  and  the  hoe  without  making  unsightly  cuts 
and  gutters  in  front  of  residences.  Painting  advertisements  on 
the  rocks  by  the  myriad  nostrum  makers  is  a  nuisance  that 
should  be  prohibited  by  law.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
encroachments  made  upon  the  highway  every  time  the  stone- 
wall or  fence  boundary  is  rebuilt.  The  whole  town  should 
show  an  interest  in  preventing  such  curtailment  of  its  road- 
ways. A  Kural  Improvement  Association  can  develop  a  pub- 
lic sentiment  which  will  of  itself  correct  these  evils  without 
occasioning  any  neighborhood  strifes  or  alienations.  In  this 
matter  the  interest  of  one  is  the  interest  of  all.  The  motto  of 
the  Swiss  Confederacy,  "  One  for  all  and  all  for  one,"  is  the 
true  motto  for  the  several  districts  and  for  all  the  people  of  a 
town.  Hence  the  term  Rural  is  preferable  to  that  of  Village 
Improvement,  for  not  the  village  only  but  all  parts  of  a  town 
should  be  included  in  the  plans  and  benefits  of  this  movement. 
17.  An  important  work  of  rural  improvement  in  many 
towns  would  be  the  betterment  of  the  surroundings  of  their 
factories.  Too  frequently  these  grounds  are  disfigured  with 
rubbish  and  made  unsightly  by  neglect.  Keep  a  man  in  a 
pig-sty  and  he  would  become  swinish  in  his  habits,  but  reverse 
the  conditions  and  you  reverse  the  results.  The  influence  of 
flowers,  shrubbery,  or  neat  and  cultivated  grounds  upon 
operatives  in  refining  their  taste  and  promoting  their  happi- 
ness and  content  is  too  often  ignored.  '  There  is,  however,  a 
goodly  number  of  our  manufacturers  who  show  their  interest 
in  their  hands  by  making  their  factory  buildings  and  tenement 
houses  inviting,  comfortable  and  healthful,  and  adorning  the 
surrounding  grounds.  A  description  of  the  two  model  manu- 
facturing villages  of  America  and  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  of  the 
world,  will  show  the  desirableness  and  results  of  better  pro- 
visions for  the  taste  and  comfort  of  operatives.  I  do  not  assume 
that  all  factories  can  fully  adopt  the  standard  of  these  establish- 
ments, which  are  in  many  particulars  exceptional  in  their  oppor- 
tunities. There  are  serious  embarrassments  in  large  and  crowded 
manufacturing  towns,  especially  where  the  factories  are  con- 
trolled by  non-resident  owners,  more  anxious  for  dividends 


46 

than  for  the  comfort  and  improvement  of  their  workmen.  The 
liberal  policy  of  the  Willimantic  Linen  Company,  to  give  one 
of  many  similar  examples,  shows  how  these  difficulties  may  be 
surmounted  by  wise  provisions  for  the  improvement  and  edu- 
cation of  the  hands. 

One  of  these  "  models "  is  the  silk  factory  of  the  Cheney 
Brothers  in  South  Manchester,  Conn.,  by  far  the  largest  and 
most  successful  factory  of  the  kind  in  the  world,  making  over 
25,000  yards  of  ribbons  and  broad  silks  a  day.  This  business 
started  here  by  the  Cheney  family  in  1836,  has  steadily  grown 
in  extent  and  prosperity  to  the  present  time.  The  factory  village 
covers  about  eight  hundred  acres  of  land  and  includes  some  two 
hundred  houses.  A  fine  lawn  laid  out  with  winding  concrete 
walks  and  adorned  with  shrubs  and  flowers  fronts  the  mills, 
and  usually  each  of  the  houses.  No  fence  or  visibly  dividing 
line  separates  the  front  yards  from  the  roads.  The  Cheneys 
have  encouraged  their  hands  to  build  and  own  their  home- 
steads, and  to  this  end  furnish  the  land,  and  loan  money  for 
building  at  a  low  figure,  with  a  "  liquor  reservation"  in  the 
interest  of  temperance  and  with  the  understanding  that  all 
houses  shall  be  on  a  plan  provided  or  approved  by  their  archi- 
tect and  that  all  shall  be  neatly  painted  some  neutral  tint. 
Not  a  house  in  glaring  white  here  offends  the  eye.  The  beau- 
tiful grounds  of  the  Cheney  mansions,  of  the  operatives  and  of 
the  factories  all  present  the  appearance  of  an  extended  park, 
and  give  a  look  of  refinement,  kindliness,  and  good  neighbor- 
hood to  the  whole  village  which  is  like  a  well-kept  garden. 
No  private  yard  is  left  in  an  untidy  state.  No  debris  or  rub- 
bish is  seen  around  or  near  any  dwelling.  There  is  evidently 
a  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  neatness  and  order  that  per- 
vades the  entire  community  and  allows  no  dirty  nooks  to  be 
found.  Creeping  vines  cover  "  the  office"  and  some  of  the 
factory  buildings  and  dwellings.  No  block  houses  are  found 
here.  The  cottages  stand  apart  and  vary  in  style,  giving  an 
individuality  to  each  place.  A  capacious  aqueduct  carries 
water  to  every  house.  This  village  seems  like  a  community 
in  the  best  sense  of  the  term,  with  common  interests,  pursuits, 
and  sympathies.  The  providing  of  a  large  and  commodious 
lecture  hall  costing  $50,000,  together  with  interesting  and  in- 


47 

structive  lectures  and  entertainments  and  a  free  library  and 
reading  room,  solely  by  the  Cheney  Brothers,  shows  their 
intelligent  and  liberal  methods  of  promoting  the  well-being 
and  content  of  their  employe's.  The  hands  highly  appreciate 
the  liberality  of  their  employers  and  feel  a  manifest  interest  in 
their  work  and  a  pride  in  the  place.  Hence  strikes  and  aliena- 
tion between  capital  and  labor  are  here  unknown. 

The  other  model  manufacturing  village  is  that  of  the  Fair- 
banks Company  at  St.  Johnsbury,  Yermont.  There  is  the 
largest  manufactory  of  scales  in  the  world,  employing  in  the 
factory  and  branch  departments  elsewhere,  over  one  thousand 
men,  and  manufacturing  over  60,000  scales  annually,  the 
sales  now  amounting  to  over  $2,000,000  a  year.  It  has 
long  been  a  marvel  how  such  a  concern  could  be  made  a 
permanent  success  for  full  fifty  years  in  the  northeast  corner 
of  Yermont,  so  far  from  tide-water,  with  expensive  freightage, 
the  items  of  coal  and  iron  alone  being  yearly  about  10,000 
tons,  with  many  other  heavy  supplies  from  the  sea-board  and 
the  necessity  of  transporting  thither,  the  manufactured 
products.  Throughout  New  England  of  late  the  tendency  of 
manufacturers  has  been  from  the  interior  to  the  seaside.  They 
have  often  abandoned  old  sites  and  water  privileges  far  inland 
and  built  near  the  great  markets,  where  they  must  run  by 
steam  only.  But  in  St.  Johnsbury,  notwithstanding  these  dis<- 
advantages,  the  business  has  steadily  grown  and  become  a  suc- 
cess, which,  in  view  of  the  difficulties  overcome,  is  unparal- 
leled in  this  country. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  this  marvelous  prosperity  ?  On 
revisiting  St.  Johnsbury  recently,  the  first  impressions  made 
seven  years  ago  were  confirmed.  I  inspected  the  works,  talked 
freely  with  the  hands  as  well  as  the  owners  and  with  the  citi- 
zens of  St.  Johnsbury  not  connected  with  the  factory.  To 
observe  the  home-life  of  the  operatives,  I  entered  their  houses 
and  conversed  with  their  families.  These  inquiries  brought 
out  facts  and  inferences  suggestive  alike  to  all  employers  and 
employed. 

This  village,  where  nature  has  been  lavish  of  her  gifts, 
shows  the  added  charms  of  landscape  art.  The  whole  town 
is  justly  proud  of  their  beautiful  soldiers'  monument,  their 


48 

fine  public  building,  and  manifold  rural  adornments.  This 
company  maintains  the  highest  reputation  for  integrity. 
Many  names  honored  abroad  are  tarnished  at  home.  Only  the 
strictest  honesty  and  fair  dealing  can  stand  the  test  of  daily 
business  intercourse  with  hundreds  of  hands  for  half  a  century. 
"  They  do  everything  on  the  square,"  was,  in  substance,  the 
answer  of  many  citizens  and  workmen  to  my  inquiries  on  this 
point.  The  company  has  fairly  earned  and  gained  the  confi- 
dence of  their  men  arid  of  this  entire  community,  and  a  good 
name  at  home  naturally  follows  them  everywhere.  The  work- 
men say  that  they  are  never  permitted  to  do  any  sham-work, 
even  for  the  most  distant  market.  To  quote  the  pithy  phrases 
of  the  men,  "  no  shoddy  here,"  "  no  veneering,"  "  no  puttying." 

There  is  a  superior  class  of  workmen  in  this  establishment. 
All  are  males.  Their  work  is  proof  of  skill.  Their  looks  and 
conversation  indicate  intelligence.  They  are  mostly  Ameri- 
cans, and  come  from  the  surrounding  towns.  More  than  half 
of  them  are  married,  and  settled  here  as  permanent  residents, 
interested  in  the  schools  and  in  all  that  relates  to  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  place.  Many  of  them  own  their  houses,  with  spa- 
cious grounds  for  yard  and  garden,  and  often  a  barn  for  the 
poultry  and  cow.  These  houses  are  pleasing  in  their  exterior, 
neatly  furnished,  and  many  of  them  supplied  with  pianos  and 
tapestry  or  Brussels  carpets.  How  different  from  the  nomadic 
factory  population,  swarming  from  Canada  and  from  other 
lands  to  densely  crowded  tenement  houses,  who  never  bind 
themselves  to  civilization  by  a  home,  much  less  by  a  house  of 
their  own  !  The  tenement  houses,  also,  are  inviting  and  com- 
fortable, and  surrounded  with  unusually  large  grounds.  The 
town  is  managed  on  temperance  principles,  and  drunkenness, 
disorder  and  strife  among  the  hands  are  almost  unknown. 
Most  of  them  are  church-goers,  many  of  them  church  members. 

I  examined  the  pay-roll  and  found  the  wages  very  liberal. 
The  workmen  seem  well  satisfied  on  that  score.  Wherever  it 
is  possible,  the  work  is  paid  for  by  the  piece.  The  work  itself 
is  largely  done  by  machinery  and  that  sui  generis,  invented 
here  and  for  the  special  and  peculiar  results  here  reached.  The 
men  are  encouraged  to  expedite  their  processes  by  new  inven- 
tions and  share  largely  in  the  benefits  of  all  such  improve- 


49 

ments.  I  conversed  with  one  of  the  hands  who  invented  a 
curious  apparatus  by  which  he  marks  a  hundred  register-bars 
with  greater  accuracy  and  in  but  little  more  time  than  he  could 
formerly  do  one.  He  now  finds  working  by  the  job  especially 
profitable.  Paying  by  the  piece  has  worked  well  here.  The 
men  say  it  is  fairer  to  pay  for  results  than  by  hours.  The 
•  worth  of  labor  depends  upon  its  products.  This  plan  stimu- 
lates industry,  promotes  skill,  and  fosters  inventiveness.  It 
apportions  rewards  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  work  done. 
But  more  than  all,  this  plan  is  recognized  by  the  men  as  just 
and  satisfactory.  With  the  time  left  practically  to  their  own 
choice,  there  is  no  eight-hour  movement  here.  No  "  Labor 
League"  or  Union  has  ever  existed — no  strike  ever  been  sug- 
gested. This  would  be  a  poor  place  for  the  Internationals  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  idleness  or  agrarianism.  Imagine  one  of 
these  delegates  just  arrived  at  St.  Johnsbury  and  beginning  his 
arguments  for  a  strike  with  Mr.  -  — ,  whose  house  I  visited. 
I  fancy  him  replying  somewhat  as  he  did  to  my  inquiry. 
"Why  is  it  you  never  have  any  strikes  here?"  "Well,  we 
have  a  good  set  of  men  to  start  with — temperate  and  moral. 
Then  we  are  well  paid.  Wages  have  often  been  advanced. 
The  owners  take  an  interest  in  the  men.  They  are  liberal 
and  public  spirited,  and  are  doing  a  great  deal  for  the  place, 
and  we  feel  an  interest  in  the  success  of  the  concern  which 
has  been  the  making  of  St.  Johnsbury." 

There  has  evidently  been  mutual  sympathy  and  interest 
between  employer  and  employed.  The  senior  Governor  Fair- 
banks used  to  say  to  the  men,  "Ydu  should  always  come 
to  me  as  to  a  father."  He  maintained  relations  of  kindness 
with  them,  visiting  the  sick,  helping  the  needy,  counseling 
the  erring,  encouraging  their  thrift,  enjoining  habits  of  econ- 
omy. He  taught  them  that  it  was  their  interest  and  duty  to 
"lay  up  something  every  month,"  and  that  the  best  way  to 
rise  in  the  social  scale  was  to  unite  economy  with  increasing 
wages.  He  himself  both  preached  and  practiced  economy. 
He  was  a  conspicuous  example  at  once  of  strict  economy  and 
princely  liberality.  His  benefactions  were  munificent,  both 
at  home  and  abroad.  The  fact  that  so  many  of  the  work- 
men are  "fore-handed,"  besides  owning  their  homesteads,  is 


50 

due  to  his  teaching  and  example.  The  worth  and  dignity 
of  work  he  illustrated  in  theory  and  practice.  The  notion 
that  labor  was  menial,  or  that  the  tools  of  trade  or  farm  were 
badges  of  servility,  he  despised.  His  sons  worked  in  the 
shop,  and  thoroughly  learned  the  trade.  The  brothers  of  the 
Governor  were  in  full  sympathy  with  him,  and  the  same 
spirit  characterizes  the  sons  and  the  surviving  brother  who 
now  manage  the  concern.  There  is  still  the  fullest  and  hap- 
piest conciliation  between  labor  and  capital.  It  is  not  strange 
that  the  workmen  "  hold  on."  Their  permanency  is  a  striking 
fact.  Many  have  been  here  from  twenty  to  over  forty  years. 

Years  ago  the  men  were  aided  in  forming  and  sustaining  a 
Lyceum,  and  liberal  prizes  were  offered  for  the  best  essays  read. 
Recently,  Horace  Fairbanks  has  founded  a  library,  and  opened 
a  large  reading-room  free  to  all.  The  Athenaeum  containing 
the  library,  reading-room,  and  also  a  spacious  lecture-hall,  is  an 
elegant  structure,  ninety- five  by  forty  feet,  two  stories  high. 
The  books,  now  numbering  nearly  ten  thousand  volumes,  are 
choice  and  costly  ;  two  hundred  and  thirty  volumes  have  been 
drawn  in  a  single  day.  In  the  reading-room,  besides  a  good 
supply  of  American  periodicals,  daily,  weekly  and  quarterly,  I 
noticed  on  the  tables  many  European  journals,  including  four 
English  quarterlies,  six  London  weeklies,  and  ten  monthlies. 
The  library  and  reading-room  are  open  every  week-day  and 
evening,  except  Wednesday  evening,  when  all  are  invited  to 
attend  the  weekly  "lecture,"  which  is  held  at  the  same  hour  in 
all  the  churches.  Having  visited  nearly  every  town  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut,  and  traveled  widely  in  this  country, 
I  have  nowhere  found  in  a  village  of  this  size  an  art  gallery  so 
costly  and  so  well  supplied  with  painting  and  statuary,  a 
reading-room  so  inviting,  and  a  library  so  choice  and  excellent 
as  this. 

Thaddeus  Fairbanks,  one  of  the  three  founders  of  the  scale 
factory,  has  liberally  endowed  a  large  and  nourishing  academy, 
which  promises  to  become  the  "  Williston  Seminary"  for  north- 
eastern Vermont. 

These  various  provisions  for  the  improvement,  happiness, 
and  prosperity  of  this  people,  coupled  with  liberality  and  fair- 
ness in  daily  business  intercourse,  explain  the  absence  of  dis- 


51 

content  and  the  uniform  sympathy,  good  feeling  and  harmony 
which  prevail. 

How  to  harmonize  labor  and  capital  is  now  one  of  the  great 
questions  of  the  age.  Their  alienation  has  recently  caused  idle- 
ness, distress  and  crime  on  one  side,  and  lock-outs,  derange- 
ment of  business  and  enormous  losses  on  the  other.  The  many 
millions  lately  lost  by  mistakes  on  this  question  furnish  only  a 
new  version  of  the  old  story  of  antagonisms  between  those  who 
should  be  partners.  I  have  nowhere  seen  a  better  practical 
solution  of  the  Labor  Question  than  in  South  Manchester  and 
St.  Johnsbury. 

18.  As  plans  for  Rural  Improvement  Associations  are  often 
called  for,  the  following,  adopted  in  Clinton,  Conn.,  is  given. 

This  association,  though  organized  less  than  two  years  since, 
has  already  accomplished  important  results.  A  circular  ad- 
dressed to  the  citizens  of  that  town  by  this  association,  says: 

"  At  our  last  town  meeting,  a  liberal  sum  was  unanimously 
appropriated  for  improving  our  road-sides.  The  cooperation 
of  every  citizen  is  needed  to  carry  on  this  good  work.  While 
no  sudden  changes  are  expected,  and  while  the  full  results 
desired  will  require  time,  still,  with  the  united  efforts  of  our 
people,  Clinton  can  soon  be  made  the  most  beautiful  town  on 
the  Shore  Line,  offering  with  the  rare  privileges  opened  in  the 
Morgan  School,  unequaled  advantages  and  attractions  to  invite 
wealthy  and  desirable  residents  who  are  seeking  a  country 
home." 

BY-LAWS  AND  .REGULATIONS  OF  THE  CLINTON  EURAL 
IMPROVEMENT  ASSOCIATION. 

1.  This  Association  shall  be  called  "The  Rural  Improve- 
ment Association  of  Clinton." 

2.  The  object  of  this  Association  shall  be  to  cultivate  public 
spirit,   quicken   the  social  and  intellectual  life  of  the   people, 
promote  good  fellowship,  and  secure  public  health  by  better 
hygienic  conditions  in  our  homes  and  surroundings,  improve 
our  streets,  roads,  public  grounds,  side-walks,  establish  good 
grass  borders  in  the  streets  and  public  squares,  provide  drink- 
ing troughs,   break   out   paths  through   the   snow,   light  the 


52 

streets,  remove  nuisances,  and  in  general  to  build  up  and 
beautify  the  whole  town,  and  thus  enhance  the  value  of  its 
real  estate  and  render  Clinton  a  still  more  inviting  place  of 
residence. 

3.  The  officers  of  this  Association  shall  consist  of  a  Presi- 
dent, a  Vice-President,  a  Treasurer,  a  Secretary,  and  an  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  fifteen,  six  of  whom  shall  be  ladies. 

4.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  make 
all    contracts,    employ  all  laborers,  expend  all   moneys,    and 
superintend  all  improvements  made  by  the  Association.    They 
shall  hold  meetings  monthly  from  April  to  October  in   each 
year,  and  as  much  oftener  as  they  may  deem  expedient. 

5.  Every  person  who  shall  plant  three  trees  by  the  road-side, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Executive  Committee,  or  pay  three 
dollars  in  one  year  or  one  dollar  annually,  and  obligate  him- 
self or  herself  to  pay  the  same  annually  for  three  years,  shall 
be  a  member  of  this  Association. 

6.  The  payment  of  ten  dollars  annually  for  three  years,  or 
of  twenty-five  dollars  in  one  sum,  shall  constitute  one  a  life 
member  of  this  Association. 

7.  Five  members  of    the  Executive  Committee  present  at 
any  meeting  shall  constitute  a  quorum. 

8.  No  debt  shall  be  contracted  by  the  Executive  Committee 
beyond  the  amount  of  available  means  within  their  control, 
and  no  member  of  the  Association  shall  be  liable  for  any  debt 
of  the  Association,  beyond  the  amount  of  his  or  her  subscrip- 
tion. 

9.  The  Executive  Committee  shall  call  an  annual  meeting, 
giving  due  notice  of  the  same,   for  the  election  of  officers  of 
this  Association,   and  at  said  meeting  shall  make  a  detailed 
report  of  all  moneys  received  and  expended  during  the  year, 
the  number  of    trees  planted  under  their  direction,  and   the 
number  planted  by  individuals,  length   of  sidewalks   made  or 
repaired,  and  the  doings  of  the  Committee  in  general. 

10.  This  constitution  may  be  amended  at  any  annual  meet- 
ing by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  members  present  and  voting. 


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